The Perfect Soldier
by Brotherhood Of War
Summary: AU season 4. Adam finds another like him and uses this prefect soldier to his advantage or his downfall. I posted the right chapter 13 this time sorry for the mix up.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I don't own BTVS. If you have read my other story, than I hope you like this one as well. I will update that one soon. AU season 4 from the end of 'the I in Team' on.

A young brunette was staring up at the blinding white ceiling above her, when the door to her room swished open. She immediately clicked her heels together, put her left fist along the seam of the standard issue camouflage pants, and her right hand went straight out with the end of her middle finger touching the end of her eyebrow. Entering, a tall part demon, part human, and part machine smirked at the appearance of the little girl who looked no older than a ten year old.

"I am your new commander and you will follow all my orders. Understood?" The tall monster ordered putting the question there as a precaution.

"Aye, aye, Sir." The young girl stated emotionlessly lowering her right hand to copy her left.

"Sir will not do when addressing me so just call me Brother." Adam told the little girl, and then decided that he should know the name Mother gave her as well. He asked, "So what is it that Mother called you?"

"Brother, I don't know of any mother but I was designated Lilith." Lilith responded with the tone of the good soldier she was trained to be.

"I see now. Any matter, grab your weapons and come with me now. We are going to see the outside." Adam said with a sadistic smile.

Lilith snapped into action grapping the all black arm blades. The black straps ran the length of her arm and the blades extending an arm's length. They left escaping through tunnel 72 and heading out into the night life. Having walked for hours, the sun was coming up. Adam had taken in the world around them with a curious fascination while Lilith had only looked for threats and remained stoic. During their continued walk, they came across a small boy playing with his toys. He looked up at Adam with an excited smile as he had never seen a real monster before. Adam had looked at the boy with curiosity and decided that maybe this boy could give him some answers.

"What am I?" Adam asked with a strange look on his face.

"You're a monster." The little boy said simply.

"Then what are you?" Adam asked again feeling a little disappointed that the boy was not giving her the answers he wanted.

"I'm a boy." He answered again not feeling threatened by the monster with the little girl next to him.

"How do you function?" Adam asked his last question.

"I don't know I just do." The boy answered honestly.

Adam turned to Lilith stating, "This boy is not giving me the answers I want and I want to see how he functions. What do you think we should do, Lilith?"

"If he holds the answers you want then you should get them out of him, Brother." Lilith said responding to the information she was given to determine the action they should take.

"I believe you are right." Adam said extending the skewer from his arm.

He turned to the now frightened boy and stabbed him in the chest. Adam took his skewer and sliced up the body looking for his answers. Lilith looked on and was unaffected at the brutality that Adam showed in dismantling the boy. After Adam was done, they continued on but quickly Adam became bored of the world and missed home. They had entered into the archives room and killing a guard. Adam had watched the scene waiting for the best moment to interrupt. Seeing his opportunity, he started a spiel about himself and how he was better than any of them. Buffy had remained focused on the little girl that stood on the platform at attention. When Adam and Riley began their disagreement, Buffy turned to what she thought was the real threat. The battle started when Adam knocked away Riley's Sig Sauer 226 pistol, Lilith jumped into the fight not needing to be told to.

Lilith went straight at Riley. She kicked him in the stomach making him bend over in pain and a little shock. Straightened, he realized that this was no regular ten year old. Lilith kicked his knee out and stabbed him in the stomach. Buffy realizing that Riley was down went over to the little girl and hit her in the head with her right fist. This caused the young girl to stumble but returned with an arm strike to her midsection and a kicked to the knee. Adam had successfully killed his last doctor and wanted to get out of there for now.

With Initiative guards entering the room, Adam ordered Lilith to come on. They ran and got a little ahead of the soldiers when Adam stopped and told Lilith to kill their pursuers. Nodding her head in an affirmation, she stopped and waited. The soldiers had circled around her wanting to take her back alive, knowing the scientist would be interested in taking her apart. Lilith raised the blades straight out and twirled taking out the ones grouped in a circle around her. This left on three other who began firing in a panic not focused on aiming. Ducking and moving fast, she completely took off the legs of a soldier and used him as a shield until the bullets stopped. Lilith jumped over the human shield and impaled the next one. She used the next jumps momentum and sliced down the last guard. With all dead and her visual assessment of the flesh wound the bullets caused, Lilith ran to rejoin her commander.

AN: I know this is short but the next chapter will be longer so please tell me what you think and for those who don't know what 'Aye, aye' means it's a military term meaning 'I understand and will obey'.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: BTVS belongs to me only in my wildest dreams unfortunately in real life Joss Whedon. Thanks for your reviews. Here is the next chapter.

Adam and Lilith had spent three days inside a cave. Adam had come and gone over those three days. Lilith had stayed where Adam had ordered her to. She never moved despite the three day hunger and her entire person being covered in dirt and blood. Adam didn't need to eat and didn't understand that Lilith did so while she could actually feel something reacting within her she couldn't tell that she was getting angry with her commander. Being the good soldier she was; she never spoke her mind. Finally late afternoon on the fourth day, the young girl approached the cyborg and snapped into attention with a salute.

"Brother, permission to speak." Lilith said while moving into a standard attention pose.

"Permission granted, Lilith." Adam stated.

"I require food to function properly, Brother." Lilith replied.

"You are to leave and get food then come back. Use any means necessary and leave your arm blades here." Adam ordered.

Lilith only nodded and took off into town. People would look on with disgust at the dirty and bloody girl. She was walking trying to figure out a way to get food without drawing attention to her. She was so caught up in her planning that she didn't notice that she had ran into someone. When she felt someone touch her arm, she turned and raised her fist to strike but there was a look in the women's eyes that stopped her. The woman was an older medium sized blonde wearing a nice outfit and carrying a bag of food. Lilith felt that this might be a way to get her food.

Joyce looked at this small child that looked like she didn't have a home or at least a very bad one with the way she appeared. She thought back to the two kids that she had found in the park last year. Although they hadn't been real children, she had felt a soft spot for kids facing the horrors of what went on after dark. She looked at this girl with sorrow at the way she appeared as though she had not eaten, bathed, or even slept. Deciding that she could help this girl, she gave the girl a small smile and went to talk.

"Hi, I'm Joyce and who are you?" Joyce asked the girl as she seemed to close off.

"I am called Lilith." She answered the women, who she thought was a superior.

"Okay, Lilith, how would you like to come back to my house? We can get you cleaned up and get you something to eat." Joyce offered with a smile when it looked like the girl would agree.

Lilith just nodded and followed her new superior to her vehicle. She got in, when the women had told her to. A few minutes later, Lilith was staring at the strange scenery wondering when they would hit the forest again; and when they reached the two-story house, she was confused as to the purpose of this structure. Joyce and Lilith walked into the hall and Lilith immediately looked for threats of any kind. Joyce was worried about the little girl's behavior and wondering what had made her this way.

"Why don't we go upstairs and get you into some other clothes?" Joyce asked carefully.

"Ma'am, what will happen to these?" Lilith asked hesitantly and closed in on herself expecting to be struck for not asking permission to speak first.

"I can repair and clean them for you if they mean so much to you. How long has it been since you had a decent meal, bath, or sleep?" Joyce asked with a concerned expression.

"Four days, Ma'am." Lilith replied with her soldier attitude and stance.

Joyce had been shocked at Lilith's answer and wanted to find who did this to her but she knew that it would have to wait. The older blonde was going to explain to the young brunette how to work the shower but Lilith replied that she knew how to work one; after all, soldiers were to always look their best when they were not out on missions. Joyce had already started to repair them, which consisted of her sewing the holes shut and patching the bullet holes. By the time Lilith had finished cleansing herself of the dirt and blood; the older blonde had finished with the repairs and had found a large shirt for the ten year old to wear. Joyce threw the rags into the washer and fixed the child a late lunch. Seeing Lilith yawn, Joyce led her up to Buffy's room so she could sleep while her clothes were getting clean. Joyce smiled at the sight of the small brunette sleeping so peacefully.

When Lilith awoke, it was night time and she could smell food cooking downstairs. She noticed her standard black shirt and camouflage pants along with black socks for her boots. She changed and headed downstairs following her sense of smell. Joyce nearly dropped her pan when she turned and saw the girl just standing there quietly. Joyce had made a big meal of porkchops and mashpotatos. The young soldier just stared at the food feeling her mouth' watering at the sight of the food, they sat down at the little counter in the kitchen. Lilith had never had such great tasting food or the white drink that she had drowned. The older blonde was smiling at how different the young girl looked from earlier and it looked like there was a beginning to a smile happening with Lilith.

Halfway through dinner, there was a ring at the door. Joyce excused herself to go answer and what she saw shocked her. There standing before her was a brunette with all black clothing and a sadistic smile on her face as she looked at the older Summers.

"Hello, Joyce." Faith said to the blonde as she threw a left jab to the woman's chin knocking her out and falling to the floor.

Hearing a person talking then a thud had put Lilith on alert, she ran towards the door. She saw a tall brunette standing over her superior and snapped into action catching the other slayer off guard with a kick to the back. Faith turned around planned on confronting Buffy but saw a small kid instead, which she only laughed at. Lilith jumped kicked at Faith's head but Faith blocked and countered with a hit to the kids head. The soldier straightened out and went for a fake left jab and pulled a right kick to the knee making Faith lose a bit of her balance. Seeing this, Lilith followed through with a kick to the midsection but Faith caught her foot and tossed her aside. Lilith recovered shakily and charged tackled Faith and knocked them both to the ground with Lilith on top striking the face twice. Faith caught the fist and threw the little neusence over her head and Lilith tucked and rolled ending on her feet. Lilith could feel her exhaustion catching up with her so she went in and hit three punches to the stomach and a kick to the face with all the strength she had left. Her fortune paid off with the rouge slayer knocked out but as she went in for the kill she was turned and hit with a solid hit to her head. With a blurry view, she saw the blonde woman from a few days ago standing over her before the darkness enveloped her.

AN: so tell me what you think and review. By the way if you have anything you would like to see happen tell me and I will look at if I can fit in to the story or if you just want to say I have horrible writing. Just be honest and thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me. Thank you for your reviews.

Shaking her head to clear the darkness from her eyes, Lilith saw that everything was still blurry and any noises she heard were fuzzy. She tried to escape despite the splitting headache she has but she found that she couldn't move. This alerted everyone in the room that she was awake. Lilith looked around the room noting that she was still in the house she had been in when the blonde had knocked her out. Buffy was standing in front of the brunette child and looking between the recently awaken rouge and her. She was trying to figure out what happened with her mother still out cold upstairs. The only other people in the room were the Scoobies and Riley.

"We should just call the Initiative to get both of them." Riley said to the blonde slayer eagerly.

"No, they would experiment with them and I don't know what they would do with a slayer in their possession." Buffy said with finality in her voice.

Lilith felt warmth at seeing the Initiative grunt put in his place by his superior. She let a smirk grace her usually emotionless face. Seeing this, Riley snapped and punched Lilith across the face splitting her lip again. He went to strike her again when Buffy caught him and pulled him away from her. This didn't stop the warm feeling or the smirk from falling from her face. Buffy had looked at Riley with anger. Faith looked like she could kill the soldier.

"Riley, what the hell was that? She is just a child even if she is different. We don't hit kids." Buffy yelled into his face.

"Buffy, she has killed people and stabbed me and this is a good way to get information on Adam and his plans." Riley tried to explain.

"Go to hell, mother fucker. That's not a good reason to go around striking children." Faith yelled at the pair.

"You **will not** raise a hand to Lilith." A new voice interrupted from the doorway.

They all turned to the door way and were shocked to see a very awake and angered Joyce. Buffy went to make sure her mom was okay while Riley tried to salvage this meeting of Buffy's mom. The rest were shocked that Joyce was sticking up for the emotionless child. Lilith straightened up at the sight of one of her leaders but was confused as to why she was conversing with the enemy. This was new for the little assassin as there was no way this woman would have been so accommodating if she were the enemy. '_I don't get it. She can't be the enemy unless she was supposed to turn me against Brother. No, there has to be another reason. She is a superior and I should not be questioning her methods,_' Lilith thought.

"Now, why is Lilith tied up?" Joyce asked annoyed.

"She is dangerous, mom. How did you even come into contact with her?" Buffy asked curiously.

"I was coming out of the grocery when I saw her. She looked so lost and dirty so I offered her a meal and a shower." Joyce explained.

"What? You just offered and she came. That's strange." Buffy said

"And here I thought you just had kids doing your work for you." Faith laughed.

"So the mighty rouge Slayer got beat by a ten year old." Willow taunted.

"At least, she lasted longer than that disgrace of a soldier." A surprisingly laughing tone coming from Lilith, which caused Riley to try to hit her again but was caught by Buffy again.

"Riley, if you can't get a hold of yourself than you need to leave." Joyce told him with a threating undertone.

"What! She is sitting there trying to humiliate me and you aren't doing anything to stop it." Riley fussed.

"I am not going to let you hit a child." Joyce told the disgruntled Iowa boy.

Oblivious to the argument going on, Lilith sunk deep into thought. '_I knew she was no traitor. She is trying to help me but she isn't fighting them. What was it that the Blonde had called her? Mom. Doesn't that mean creator or at least that is according to Brother. So she made the Blonde does that mean that she is my enemy but I don't want to fight her. Even if she were my enemy, why is she being so nice to me? I don't get this place. These people are so confusing._' Lilith's head felt like it was going to split in two. It was like a battle was taking place in her head. Her training and soldier nature was fighting against these new emotions. Faith saw a slip in the child's mask. She couldn't, for some reason, stand to see her in pain and no one was paying attention to the little girl they were so vehemently arguing about, despite losing earlier.

"HEY! Why don't you guys just shut up and help the poor kid that looks like her head is about to explode." Faith yelled at them.

"Lilith, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Joyce concern coloring her face.

"What is wrong with this place? There are so many things here that don't make sense." Lilith answered through clenched teeth.

"This is the real world. Nothing ever really makes sense but its okay if you don't understand. You are just a child." Joyce said soothingly.

"These weird reactions what are they and why do I have them? I want them to go away again." Lilith said with a few tears leaking down her face.

"Those are emotions and that is because you are human. You shouldn't want them to go away or you will be left as a shell." Joyce said pulling the still chained child into a hug.

"No, **I AM NOT HUMAN**! I am a soldier and nothing else. Emotions are useless for a soldier." Lilith yelled before completely breaking down.

Joyce ignored the ringing in her ear Lilith's yelling and pulled the girl tighter to her. She kept trying to sooth the ten year old in her arms over the mutterings of 'I'm a disgrace'. It was repeated over and over as she slipped back into exhaustion. The oldest Summers turned to her daughter and held her hand out for the key. Buffy didn't hesitate to disobey her mom and helped her mom take Lilith up to Buffy's old room to sleep. The room was still in a state of shock when they arrived back. Even Faith looked pensive about what just happened.

AN: Sorry if this seems kind of short but I thought it would be a good place to stop. So please review and help me get better.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thank you for your reviews and BTVS doesn't belong to me. So, I just want to say that I try to keep the characters in character and was informed that Riley might have been out of character in the last chapter. I'm sorry for this even if I don't like the guy, I shouldn't have put it into the story.

After everyone got over the emotional outburst, Buffy rounded on Faith with a scowl. Faith didn't think this going to be good and was rethinking her whole revenge plan. Buffy was looking at the other slayer thinking over what they should do with her. On one side, she could use this as an advantage on Adam. They already had Lilith and Faith could help finish tipping the scale.

"I'm going to offer you a deal. You can either help us defeat the new big bad or I can hand you over to the Council. They have ways of making sure that you can't even have your slayer powers." Buffy said seriously.

"Like hell. You forget, B, I'm wanted by the cops. So even if I did take your offer, I would get thrown in jail the moment I stepped out the door. Well, they would try to anyway." Faith chuckled at the blonde.

"Well then, Giles call them and tell them where she is. Let's see how tough you are when they start sticking you with their homemade slayer kryptonite." Buffy said not taking her face away from Faith's.

"Nice to see that you finally see my way of thinking. Letting your enemies suffer. Now you are finally wearing big sister clothes." Faith gloated to pry on the conscience of the blonde slayer.

"Damn it, Faith. I was hoping that we could settle things when you woke up. I didn't want to fight you anymore. Why do you got to make things so difficult? What's wrong with just trying to let go of that anger?" Buffy snapped at the Boston native.

"You put me in a coma to save your boyfriend that apparently, you aren't even dating anymore. You took eight months of my life and didn't even feel bad about it." Faith ground out trying to unleash her anger on everyone in the room.

"You were out of control. I tried after Finch to get you to talk and be there for you. You just turned your back on us and joined up with a demon that was going to eat the entire town." Buffy yelled into her face.

"Cause he actually cared about me. Never once did he pretend to like me or use me as a way to get out of doing anything. He was like the father I never had." Faith argued.

"I did care about you, Faith. Every time I tried to get you to open up **you** closed me out." Buffy trying to reason with the rouge.

"Bull shit! I was a just a convenient excuse to go out with your friends or go see Angel behind everyone's back." Faith shot back.

"Who's Angel?" Riley interrupted the argument causing Faith to smirk.

"He's B's vampire ex-boyfriend." Faith revealed happily.

Riley had taken the news badly and Buffy had taken the new argument outside to, hopefully, talk about it rationally. They returned and Buffy had turned to give Faith her attention. Part of her was hoping that Faith would join her again and another said that she would never change. Faith was sitting there waiting for whatever the blonde chose. She knew that there was no way Buffy would ever really forgive her or trust her.

"So, Faith, have you thought about what you want?" Buffy asked with a sigh.

"Well, I was thinking of some ribs and a nice way to shake off the double Hs." Faith joked.

"I'm though with this." Buffy said tired with the day's events.

She walked upstairs in a daze. Buffy walked into her room forgetting that Lilith was putt in. The blonde walked over to her bed and lay down before she realized something in the room was off. Jumping up, she looked over her room and noticed that her window was open and Lilith was nowhere to be seen. Rushing back down, she proceeded to tell them about the little girl's disappearance.

Lilith had woken up not long after her breakdown and felt that the best way to get rid of the emotions was to get away from these people. She eventually had tracked down her real commander again and had fitted her blades to their proper place. There were five vampires with Adam when she arrived. They had laughed at the appearance of the brunette child. This had angered the child soldier and she decided that they deserved a demonstration of her skills. Walking to the front vampire and before he had any time to react, she had cut off his legs at the kneecaps and then impaled him through the chest. She knew it wouldn't kill him but it kept him in place and she could feel herself losing control of that anger. As the others attacked, she decapitated the impaled vampire. Lilith jumped up and kicked the closest vampire in the head dazing him. One of the others got in a kick to her stomach making her bend and the next hit her in the knees throwing her off balance. As one had gone to deliver a final kick to the head, her left blade pieced his foot and the other severed it completely. Next she dodged another punch heading for her face, and jump spin taking both of the two standing vampires' heads off. She just stared at the last on with an enraged face and the last thing he ever saw in his undead life was the animalistic face of Lilith.

AN: please read and review to tell me what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: thank you for all your reviews and for legal purposes I don't make money off of BTVS.

**Lilith's Dream**

Lilith was looking around the pitch black area. There was screaming coming from somewhere just beyond her sight. The sound was filled with so much pain and suffering in it and it was chilling her to the bone. She started looking for the direction of the screaming and ran that direction. She was running as fast as she could but the darkness seemed to go on forever. Eventually she saw a light, that's when the scenery changed. Lilith saw a circular room with monitors in the center and in a circle. Sitting in a chair at the center was Adam; he was looking intently at the screens and would occasionally type something into the computer. The young brunette walked up behind him and saw the whole Initiative, which seemed to be under attack. The screaming was coming from the dying demons and soldiers.

"You have served your purpose well, Lilith." Adam said before he turned around and stabbed her through the chest.

The mini-soldier jolted awake and jumped into a defensive stance. She couldn't see any threats and relaxed a little. Lilith sat with her back against the rock that made up her little space in the cave they had hold up in. She pulled her knees up to her chest and went into deep thought. '_I don't get it. What was up with that dream? Is it a look into what could happen or am I thinking that he will betray me? I can't see the future so it must be my own doubts. Those people, whatever they did, it is still affecting me. I thought if I got away from them, these feelings would go away. Guess I will just have to watch him carefully. _'

In a little command center, Adam sat looking at a computer surveillance screen of the Initiative. He couldn't help but think to his little pawn against these people. '_Lilith is a good weapon to use in the first wave of attack, though her reaction the other night was a switch. The emotion she showed when attacking, that has never happened before. Maybe Mother's words were true, she feared that Lilith would develop a psychosis. Her metal state might be to the way her growth is accelerated. She looked to be about ten when I stepped into the room now she looks about fourteen. Her adaptation to the change in mentality could affect her dedication to following my orders. I will have to watch her more carefully._'

Back at the Summers' house, Buffy was still trying to get through to Faith for a couple of days. They still hadn't released her from the chains and they didn't seem to be helping much. Joyce had taken to feeding the rouge slayer as Buffy refused to let her go. She had also beaten the Watcher Council special operations group when they tried to take her. Faith had been trying to piss Buffy off to the point where she might let her out or kill her. Buffy had spent the last couple of days at home trying to get Faith to help them.

"Please, Faith. I don't want to be your enemy anymore. Why won't you just join us?" Buffy asked pleadingly.

"I don't trust you. I knew you wouldn't give me a chance." Faith said honestly.

"I gave you every chance. I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me. I've lost battles before but no one has made me feel like a victim." Buffy replied raising her voice.

"And you can't stand that. You're all about control. You have no idea what it's like to be on the other side! Where nothings in control, nothing makes sense! There is just pain and hate." Faith shouted at the blonde.

"Shut up!" Buffy just yelled back.

"Just tell me how to make it better." Faith whispered defeated.

"Join us, Faith. I promise I won't let that darkness consume you again. I really missed having you around." Buffy told the brunette in a small voice as well.

"Fine, I will help you. But what are we going to do about the police? They are still after me." Faith wondered.

"Tomorrow, I can have Will deal with the police reports." Buffy reassured as she reached to unlock the chains.

Buffy was weary when she undid the lock. She was hoping that Faith was being honest with her. Faith felt the restrictions if the chains give way and she stood to her full height, stretching. The next morning came and there was a front page that had both slayers wondering what was going on. The subject of the article stated that the murder of the Deputy Mayor Allen Finch and Professor Lester Wirth turned himself in and told the police he had killed them for money to buy drugs.

"That's very strange. Do you think the Council would do something like that? You know so they could kill me quietly." Faith asked deeply confused.

"I don't know. We are just going to have to watch out for them." Buffy answered deep in thought.

"Oh, Buffy, this was taped to the door when I went to get the paper." Joyce said handing over a folded piece of paper.

It looked like it had been pulled out of a trash can and the writing was sloppy and hardly legible. All it said on there was: _**Your Welcome**_.

AN: There you go. So please review to tell me what you think and if I can make this any better. Plus if you have your own suggestions about what you want to see happen tell me.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: I don't know if anyone is still reading but none the less I will complete both of my stories. So here it goes and of course BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Later that day, Buffy and Faith had taken to trying to mend their broken friendship and build up there trust, hopefully. They were stressfully getting along and later that night, Buffy was telling the gang of Faith's decision to join them. There was a swift knock at the door before it was swiftly kicked open. Faith and Buffy jumped into action, attacking in an instant. Buffy pulled a high kick into the chin of one of the intruders knocking him into a wall. Faith left handed jabbed then pulled a right upper cut on another attacker, with him landing against the threshold to the living room. Buffy legged swept the last attacker while Faith kicked him backward onto the floor. They stood with their feet pressed against the last guy's throat.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Buffy demanded fiercely.

"Wouldn't you like to know." The man answered with a sneer and deep English accent.

"Your part of the Council, well if you haven't noticed, we don't work for them anymore. So get the hell out of my house." Buffy said as she pressed her foot harder against his neck.

They heard a click of a gun being cocked from their right. Faith, being closest, grabbed the arm and pointed it back at the man holding it. She pointed it against his chin and the look on his face had turned from smug to fear in an instant. The last guy was reaching into his jacket, when Faith trained the Sig Sauer P229 at the last man's head instead, halting the man's actions. Buffy was worried about what they were thinking when they walked in with live weapons. This could have ended badly if Faith and she weren't more advanced than normal humans.

"If you leave now, I'll forget about this but I will not stand for an attack." Buffy negotiated to avoid anyone getting seriously hurt.

"We've got a job to do and we're not leaving until it is done." The leader stated with conviction.

"Faith is a good guy again. There is no reason to kill her or force her back to England." Buffy remarked with honesty in her voice.

"Doesn't matter. She betrayed the Council and everything it stood for." The man against the wall sneered while looking at Faith.

"The council actually stands for something and here I thought it was just a way to have young girls be obedient little slaves for them." Faith chimed in sarcastically.

"You little whore…." Was all that one against the wall got out before Faith kicked his head against the wall.

"Fuck this. If you don't leave us alone, I will, personally, watch you draw you last breath. You know what I have done, so try and test me." Faith snarled at the other men in the room.

Buffy was worried about this threat that Faith threw out but if it got the men to leave them alone then she could deal. Faith was worried about what Buffy's reaction to the threat might be. She was worried that Buffy would go back to not trusting her again and they had made a good attempt today at friendship. The leader of the wet work team seemed to think this over. If he left, then he failed the mission but if he stayed, then he would surely be killed by the Rouge. Eventually, he nodded at the blonde slayer.

"We'll take this agreement but don't expect any more help from the Council after this." The Leader said as Buffy allowed him to stand up.

"Like they were such a big help in the first place." Buffy remarked sarcastically as they picked up their unconscious friend and left with Buffy slamming the door on them.

"Look, B, I'm sorry about losing it back there. Guess, I'm not as sane as some people think." Faith apologized hanging her head.

"Faith, it's alright. You're making progress, I mean, you didn't shoot them." Buffy said nervously, about offending Faith.

"B, come on, wake up. I should have gone to the police and turned myself in." Faith replied dejectedly.

"Faith that would have been no way to go about redemption. How would you know if you were saner in a cell or if you are out here doing what a slayer is supposed to do?" Buffy asked desperate for Faith to believe her.

"I guess you're right. How do you thing the rest of the gang will act when you tell them?" Faith replied straightening her posture back into its usual confident stance.

"Well, I don't know. I guess it depends on how much they thought you betrayed us." Buffy answered honestly.

AN: I know it might seem kind of short but I'm saving some good stuff for later. If you have any questions please ask and I will do my best to answer them.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I'm just cutting to the chase and BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"What! Buffy, you can't be serious about this she has betrayed us." Xander yelled at the thought of Faith staying to help.

"We let Spike come to these things and he is still evil." Buffy responded truthfully.

"Spike has a chip in his head that makes him harmless and I never said I liked the guy. Wait, can't we have the Initiative install a chip in Faith to make her harmless against humans?" Xander asked with excitement.

"Whoa whoa whoa. What is this about a chip in the head and what the fuck is the Initiative?" Faith interrupted freaking out.

"Xander, we have had this discussion before and we are not putting one of those chips in Faith's head. The Initiative is a secret government base that experiments on demons and this chip stops them from hurting humans." Buffy explained easing Faith's worry with her defense.

"But Buffy, Faith has killed people. Wouldn't it be a good idea to put one of those chips in her head or even have the Initiative lock her up?" Willow injected thoughtfully.

"No, I already said this! No way is the Initiative getting their hands on a Slayer. She doesn't deserve to be studied like a lab rat for some bad decisions." Buffy responded forcefully.

"I'm not going to let some over grown science nerd poke and prod at me. Fuck that." Faith stated vehemently

"Let's settle down here and discuss this like adults." Giles said attempting to ease the situation.

"Look, Faith stays whether you like it or not. We need the help and if I wouldn't let the council take them then I'm not giving her to the Initiative." Buffy added with a final tone to her voice.

"Thanks, B. I'm sorry for the things I did but I will do better this time. Besides I'm free, why would I want to mess that up?" Faith responded to the room.

"Wait, they let you off. How?" Willow asked shocked.

"I don't know but it was in the paper. Some junkie confessed to the murders. We thought the Council might be behind it but after their showing earlier, I doubt it." Faith answered.

"Could the Mayor have set this up?" Giles questioned Faith.

"No. I had a gift from the Mayor after his death but I don't know what it does." Faith replied picking up the device from the mantel showing the group.

"What if Adam wanted an evil slayer for his plans?" Riley interjected.

"The Initiative doesn't know about Faith. I guess a demon could have mentioned something to him or Lilith could have said something." Buffy said doubtfully but continued, "We need more info on Adam and, in turn, Lilith. I wish we could see Walsh's files on them. Riley, do you think you could get them?"

"Not likely, they are watching me carefully there. With our relationship and all, I think they don't want you too much involved." Riley answered.

"We could sneak in again but they know all of our faces. I would ask you Faith but I don't think you could navigate that place if you didn't have one of us with you." Buffy said to Faith, who shrugged her shoulders, believing the blonde.

"Spike could go. He wouldn't look to out of place assuming he had the correct gear and most of them don't even recognize him." Xander offered on the hopes that Spike would get noticed and killed.

"Now, wait, Spike can do what?" Asked the familiar English accent of Spike.

"We need you to go down to the Initiative to get info on Adam." Buffy ordered the vampire.

"And I would be doing this why?" Spike questioned in disbelief.

"What do want, Spike, or I could just dust you?" Buffy quipped back.

"Two hundred dollars take it or leave it." Spike answered smirking.

"Fine, half now and half later." Buffy sighed not liking it but they needed that info.

"So, where will I find this precious info?" Spike asked like he didn't already know where he could get it. '_Adam will give me those discs, if he really wants me to help him get the Slayer down to him,_' he thought.

"Most likely in the room 314 and Xander will bring you what you need to blend in." Riley grunted out as Spike walked back out the door.

AN: I hope you like it.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry if you were expecting my usual update. I was too sick to even contemplate thinking but most of it has cleared up so I will give you the chapter. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"So the Slayer and her pets want discs on you and your little bird there." Spike said pointing to Lilith before lighting his cigarette.

"Fine but I want you to split up the Slayer's group." Adam ordered the neutered vampire.

"Permission to speak, Brother?" Lilith asked the tall hybrid.

"Speak freely, Lilith." Adam ordered wondering on the girl's opinion.

"If he causes dissension in the ranks of the Slayer's group then the hacker of the group would be mad at the Slayer and she may not get the information, Brother." Lilith answered simply.

"You have a point plus the emotional loss of her friends would be worth seeing as well. Dismissed, both of you." Adam ordered them away to think while handing Spike the discs.

Lilith went back to her corner of the cave they had commandeered as it was just off the Initiative 314 final project room. She sank to the floor holding her head in pain. Being this close to so many demons, her senses were going crazy and her instincts were telling her to take them out. Spike was walking about the place to make sure he didn't come back too early and the Slayer get suspicious. He spotted Adam's number two on the ground holding her head and curiosity got the best of him. The bleached blonde vampire kneeled down to where she was.

"Oi, what's wrong?" Spike asked.

"Nothing, go away. Don't you have an order to carry out?" Lilith said lifting her head.

"Fine." Spike answered walking out heading to Giles' place.

The group was meeting and Willow thought it would be a good time to bring Tara to meet her friends, filling her in on the way. Tara was a little nervous meeting Willow's friends but Willow had reassured her that she would fit right in. Spike ran in half way through the meeting pretending to be out of breath. He handed the discs to Willow and sat down to listen in on the group for information Adam would like. The entire meeting they were talking about ways to defeat Adam but Faith felt there was something they should bring up as well.

"What about Lilith? When we attack Adam we would need to face Lilith as well, possibly." Faith stated to the group.

"Faith has a point but we don't know anything about her. Willow, are you having any luck over there?" Giles asked the red headed hacker.

"It is a government disc for secret information. Do you think it would be so easy?" Willow answered sarcastically.

"Even the Initiative doesn't have any information on Lilith. I don't think professor Walsh kept the files except for those. Adam was, most likely, her main objective and Lilith was a secondary project." Riley informed.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I don't think I could kill her if it came down to it. I mean, not only is she human but she is just a child too." Buffy said to the group.

"Maybe she can be saved. Redemption can't be just for only some. I would say the way she broke down at B's house there is a chance we could get through to her." Faith interjected.

"Again you have a point, Faith." Giles stated

Back in the cave, Lilith had taken to pacing back and forth. She was still holding her head, when she heard a noise of a something behind her. Turning around, she saw a vampire dressed in a plain shirt and pant combination. He must have been new as all of the demons didn't come near the little psycho, as they called her. He growled thinking this was a treat for the vampires, who joined Adam. Lilith was looking forward to getting rid of some of her irritation. He ran at her but she dodged left and right kicked at the back of his left knee. Lilith pounced the moment he fell. Punch after punch, Lilith felt a little better. She was starting to slam his head into the ground and he was begging to just be killed already. Lilith grew bored and grabbed one of her blades and slowly pressed down on his neck. He turned to dust finally and Lilith walked and sat down in the farthest part of the corner she had claimed.

AN: Sorry if it seems a little short but I am still kind of feeling the effects of whatever I have. So please review and tell me what you think.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thank you for your reviews and BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"I got it. Hey guys, I got it." Willow yelled to the room after the third day of working on decoding the discs.

"What have we got, Wills?" Buffy asked as they crowded the red headed hacker.

"Well, Adam has a core made of Uranium 235. He can't be killed unless you remove this core." Willow explained.

"What about Lilith is that in there and what about a place where Adam would go to gather his forces?" Faith wondered.

"Yeah, both of those are in here. Apparently, Walsh cloned Lilith to be an assassination expert. It looks like they didn't expect her to grow so fast but they utilized it for their own purposes. Walsh beat her into the 'perfect soldier'." Willow said and paused to try and get the images out of her head.

"Does it say why she was growing so fast or who they got the DNA from?" Buffy asked wanting to know as much as possible.

"Um, yeah, here it is. They don't know the name of the patient but it was a female in a coma. The patient was wanted in questioning in two murders and was rumored to be unnatural. Wait no this can't be." Willow trailed off as she looked at Faith.

"What are you looking at, Red?" Faith looked annoyed at the red head's stare.

"The donor, Faith, I think it's you. She was in a coma and wanted by the police. Come on; don't tell me you guys don't see it." Willow urged the room.

"It does sound like you, Faith, and it does explain her abilities. So I guess that means you're a mom now." Buffy tried to lighten the mood with a little bit of humor.

"Whoa whoa whoa, I'm no mother. How do we even know that she was cloned from me? I'm sure there are other coma patients." Faith said freaking out.

"No, sorry. It says here that the sample came from Sunnydale. Now, Lilith has a faster growth rate than normal humans but they studied that it slowed the older she gets. According to them, she will start to age normally when she reaches the age the sample was taken. How old are you, Faith?" Willow read from the screen ending looking at Faith again.

"Well, it's past December so I'm 19 but I was 18 at the beginning." Faith answered truthfully.

"If it was Faith that they took the DNA from, why didn't Faith think she looked like her as a kid?" Xander asked the room.

"There is a chance that she developed most of Faith's recessive genes." Willow explained from her vast knowledge.

"Back on topic, where would they hold themselves up at?" Giles interrupted trying to rein everyone back onto the topic at hand.

"From Walsh's notes, it looks like there is more than one phase of 314. There is a 'final solution' phase but I don't know what it entails. I don't know where it takes place either. She has a map of the 314 area but that's it." Willow answered.

"W-w-w-wha-what's th-th-that?" Tara stuttered through pointing at a gap between to corners.

"Huh, there could be a hidden section behind the Initiative. Nice going, Tara" Willow praised with a bright smile.

"That could be why there is an influx of demons when the soldiers patrol. They take prisoners and also maybe why Soldier Boy isn't here. They got to be nearly packed." Faith stated bringing up what Riley told them yesterday.

Adam stood waiting for the final piece to make the final solution possible and end humanity once in for all. A figure stood in front of him at attention and didn't show any emotion.

"Welcome home, Brother." Adam said with a sinister smile while looking into the face of Riley Finn.

AN: Please review. I got the most of the clone idea from an episode of Doctor Who… Don't judge me, please. Lol.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Thank you for the reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"10…11…12…13…" Adam heard Lilith counting as she was doing push-ups.

"Attention, Lilith." He ordered when he got closer. He continued once he saw her standing at a perfect attention, "This is Riley Finn and you follow any commands he give you, understood."

"Understood." Lilith said controlling the anger she felt at her newest superior.

"Come, Brother, we must prepare you for the final phase." Adam said as he left.

Lilith hit the wall in anger. '_How is that worthless soldier __**my**__ superior? I beat him without any real effort. He is a comrade of the blonde. He could betray us and give away our position. There is a serious flaw in the logic of Brother. I don't know if he can still lead. No, don't think like that. He is our commander and he knows what is best,_' she thought trying to work through her doubts.

Outside Giles' apartment, Spike stood by the door preparing himself to follow through with Adam's last part for him. Buffy was worried about Riley having not seen her boyfriend for the last day. Everyone else was trying to devise a strategy to take out Adam's core, when Spike burst through the door out of breath and worry on his face.

"Slayer, good thing I found you. There's news in the underground that your boy was captured by Adam." Spike gasped out like he had run all the way there.

"What? How did Adam get Riley? I thought he was held up in the Initiative." Buffy freaked out.

"Adam must have slipped in and got him. I doubt they are paying much attention with all the demons down there." Faith said to reassure the blonde, though she didn't believe it.

"Alright then we are raiding Adam, now." Buffy ordered to the Scoobies.

"Buffy, we can't run in there. Think about it, what good would charging in and not making it do for Riley. This might be what Adam wants." Giles tried to reason with the blonde slayer.

"We can't just leave him there. Has anybody come up with something we could use to beat Adam?" Buffy questioned in a fit.

"What if we used a summoning spell? You know, pull the core out of him with magic." Willow suggested.

"I don't know how to do magic or the language, Will, and we don't have enough time for me to learn. Don't even suggest going with me 'cause that isn't going to happen." Buffy informed her friends.

"Buffy, what else are we going to do? Unless you somehow get Giles knowledge of language and Willow's magical abilities, I don't think you will have much luck." Xander said.

"That's it." Giles exclaimed and reached for a book, "There is a spell that will allow us to meld into Buffy but we will still need to be close to her."

"Will, is there any place on that map of 314 that you guys could set up at?" Buffy asked the red head.

"Maybe the room right in front of the final stage area. So if we do this spell then what is Faith going to do?" Willow looked at the brunette slayer for the answer.

"Well, while B is focusing on the big guy, I can make sure Lilith doesn't interfere. Who knows, maybe I can get her to help us out." Faith answered with hope.

"Do we have everything to do the spell, Giles, and how are we going to get into the Initiative?" Buffy wondered.

"Um, yes it looks like I have all the ingredients." Giles said looking through where he keeps his magical stuff.

"As for getting in, we could just storm the place and rappel down the elevator shaft." Xander sarcastically brought up.

"Then that is what we will do. Grab everything we need. We are ending this tonight." Buffy ordered while no one saw Spike slip out the door.

"That's suicide, B, and a major chance that if they don't just shoot us, they will throw us in a prison cell with a whole bunch of demons. I say we do it." Faith finished with a smile.

Spike made back to the control room where Adam was waiting to begin and opened his mouth, "The Slayer said that they were going to storm the Initiative tonight."

AN: I decided to stop there so that way all the good stuff goes on next chapter. So please review.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: I don't own BTVS.

Buffy barged into the Lowell house and, luckily for the residents, no one was in the main hall. Stopping in front of the hidden elevator behind the mirror, Buffy looked at her friends and Faith for confirmation that they were ready to go. The Scoobies nodded back at her and Buffy spun on her heel high kicking the mirror, breaking it into a ton of little pieces. After securing the ropes, Buffy and Willow rappelled down first next were Giles and Xander then Faith bringing up the rear to make sure everyone else got to the bottom. Unfortunately for them as they went to open the elevator doors, they had about ten M16s pointed at them and the leader smirking down at them.

They were led into a circular command center. There were soldiers stationed at every desk, in front of a camera monitor. The men were monitoring the prison cells and, from the monitors, you could see the restless demons piled in a cage slamming at the electric glass.

"What did you expect to come in here and do exactly?" Colonel McNamara demanded.

"Colonel, you have to believe me when I say that Adam is planning to unleash all the monsters that you have locked up down here." Buffy said in a desperate attempt at getting the Colonel to listen to her.

"You have some nerve. There is no way that Adam can get in here to do that." McNamara scoffed back.

"I don't know we got down here no problem." Faith remarked sarcastically.

"You didn't even make it out of the elevator." The colonel scowled at, in his opinion, the mouthy brunette.

"Adam has had enough time to learn all the ways to get in here, assuming Professor Walsh didn't just give him all that info, and he has a stealthy partner named Lilith." Buffy stated logically.

In the final 314 stage, Adam, Riley, and Lilith were standing in an operating room. Riley was refusing to believe that he couldn't control his own motor functions.

"I'm not like yo." Riley stops mid-sentence as Adam ordered him to be quiet.

"Sit." He ordered again and Riley futilely tried to resist.

"Where is his chip, Brother? Is in the head like your double agent?" Lilith wondered to her superior.

"No, his is attached to his Thoracic Nerve. It's in the left side of his chest." Adam answered back before continuing, "Now, Mother and the good doctor here will make you more than you are. Isn't that right, Forrest?" pointing to the two zombie scientist and a half-demon/half-human Forrest.

"No, Forrest, god what happened to you." Riley mourned for his friend.

"God had nothing to do with. I was made better and I am surging with life and soon you will join us." Forrest boasted.

"I'm sorry, Forrest." Riley said honestly.

"After this final attack, I will have enough to make the perfect army. No one will be able to stop us." Adam spoke with something of pride.

"Well, now isn't that all nice and dandy. I would love to stick around for your big perfect army plot but I just want this bloody chip out." Spike commented as he walked up to the group.

"Only if you have got the Slayer down into the Initiative, then I will remove your chip." Adam reminded.

"The last I knew, she was ready to take off on a bloody suicide mission just to come for Captain Cardboard, here, and maybe if you were watching the cameras you might know if the Slayer has entered." Spike shot back with attitude.

"Fine, Lilith and Spike come with me. Forrest watch Riley." Adam ordered as he walked down the hall into his control room.

Adam smiled when he saw the Slayer and her friends standing in the Initiative command center arguing with the Colonel. Adam nods his head at Lilith, who Spike hadn't noticed slipped her arm blades on, but Spike hadn't lived for so long and defeated two slayers with nothing going for him. So when Lilith jumped up ready to cut his head off, Spike ducked, kicked Lilith in the gut, and fled through the base. Adam paid him no mind as he was already working on shutting off the electricity to the Initiative.

In the command center, the Scoobies were trying to make Colonel McNamara see logic but the stubborn officer was not convinced. The lights suddenly shut off, shocking everyone in the place.

"Sir, the containment cells have lost power and the demons are escaping." One of the soldiers frighteningly informed.

"All units take out the demons in the Containment areas. Shoot to kill." The colonel said through the comms system and the gang used that time to quickly get out of the office unseen.

They were headed for one specific place with Buffy leading the way taking out any demons in their way and stunning any soldiers with Faith again bringing up the rear of the group. They made it to the door of the 314 area and Willow informed Buffy that the all the doors should be unlocked except the exits. Willow was right, of course, and once Faith got past the doorway Buffy moved a filing cabinet in front of the door. They looked around and found the entrance to the entrance to the final 314 area.

"Okay, guys, you should be fine in here until we get back. Faith and I will head to Adam and rescue Riley." Buffy shouted as Faith and she ran down the hallway.

"Hey, B. I got a serious question. How are you not going crazy feeling this many demons in one spot?" Faith asked as they ran.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Buffy replied confused.

"I am fighting every instinct to go back out there and kill every one of those demons." Faith answers.

"You're just an instinctual person, no offence." Buffy said guessingly.

They quieted as they ran into the operating room. Buffy saw Riley sitting down in one of the chairs and started questioning him on if he was okay. Buffy grew worried that Riley wasn't answering. Faith caught Forrest's surprise attack and threw a punch to his face. Buffy kicked at Walsh that had started to attack as well and Faith threw Forrest into a wall breaking glass. Forest was about to attack again when a light voice from behind surprised everyone.

"Enough, Soldier. Adam wants to see to these two personally." Lilith orders the hybrid.

"Screw you! I don't take orders from a teenager." Forrest shouts back.

Forest goes to hit the brunette slayer again when Faith sees a black blade go up through between his legs and another down between his head and shoulder. His two pieces fell forward and Lilith stood there with a deep angry look. If they didn't already know that Lilith was cloned from Faith, they would have figured it out then.

"Now, you will come with me or I will kill the boy." Lilith bluffed figuring out, from watching the group travel across the Initiative, that they valued life no matter what.

"Fine, take us to Adam." Buffy said looking one last time at Riley.

When they approached the control room, Adam turned around and, for the first time, looked surprised. He turned to Lilith with shock that she would betray him like this.

"What are you doing, Lilith?" He demanded as he got close to the little girl.

"Your logic has become questionable and your methods have not shown success. The soldiers, despite your surprise attack, have started to come back and will eventually overrun all of your troops. I want to know you are a competent leader and if you defeat these two then you have won." Lilith explained feeling her madness diminish as more demons died.

She turned to walk over to a corner to watch the fight but as she was turning her head Adam slashed at her with his skewer. He caught her on the bridge of her nose leading in a deep diagonal cut down the right side of her face ending at her jaw. Lilith clutched the cut and fell to the floor and started to slowly stand but couldn't see out of her right eye. Faith ran at Adam to stop his next attack and Buffy came up behind him. Faith kicked at Adam's skewer arm and Buffy went for his legs, barely knocking him off balance. Adam changed his arm into a machine gun and trained it on the slayers. They were almost to cover as Adam went to fire and, to an outsider, it look like he might succeed.

_BANG, BANG, BANG_

Faith and Buffy looked at each other in shock at not seeing bullet holes in them. Adam was grunting in pain from the black blade sticking from his kneecap. He smacked the injured teenager into a wall. Buffy felt something go through her and suddenly it was like she couldn't control herself. Adam turned his gun back to the blonde slayer, who had stood up, and fired. Faith watched in amazement when Buffy stopped the bullets but then made them disintegrate. Seeing that the spell was obviously working, Faith ran to help the younger brunette.

Buffy forced Adam's arm back to a regular hand after he had tried to use a rocket on her. She blocked every punch Adam threw at her then kneed him in the stomach.

"You could never hope to grasp the source of our power. Yours on the other hand is right here." An echo of the four voices sounded in the sentence as she shoved her hand into Adam's chest and ripped out his core, destroying it instantly.

After the spell wore off, they headed back to Riley, who had only moved his hand so far to get the glass. Quickly dispatching the two zombie scientist, Lilith explained about the chip and where it was. Faith volunteered to cut the chip from his body as Buffy was too jittery even thinking about cutting into her boyfriend and Lilith had blood in her eyes and couldn't see. After a struggling attempt by Faith, the chip was removed and they were making their way back to the room with the gang.

"Why did you help us, Lilith?" Faith questioned as the girl was leaning against her.

"A group of five got into a government facility and still got all the way into our base." Lilith answered promptly and tiredly.

"Guys, we're back but we need to get these two some medical attention." Buffy said as they entered the room.

"Why is she coming with us?" Willow asked pointing to Lilith.

"She saved our lives… possibly twice." Buffy answered as she pushed the cabinet out of the way and the group fled the building, knowing the soldiers had it handled.

AN: There you go and if you have any questions please ask. Also please review.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me.

The Scooby gang had gathered for a celebratory movie night for defeating Adam. Faith ordered Lilith to come along as she wanted Lilith to find the fun, as she liked to say. Both brunettes had gotten offers to stay at Giles' flat and they had accepted.

"Wow, Lilith, that cut must have been really bad. Even with slayer healing, it's still red." Xander said pointing to the cut running diagonally from the edge of her nose to her jaw. Lilith looked to Faith before answering.

"It is what Faith has called it a wicked scar." Lilith replied slightly unemotional.

"Really, Faith, already. Next, all we'll be hearing is five by five this and five by five that." Buffy jokingly remarked.

"Oh come on, B, I'm sure she appreciates the great cultural language I'm teaching her." Faith laughingly stated.

"Faith, Five by five means 'I understand you perfectly' in communication terms." Lilith informed shocking everyone else.

"Wait, that phrase actually has meaning." Buffy said floored at Lilith's nod.

"Ha and you all thought I made it up." Faith chuckled.

"How about we just watch the movies now?" Willow suggested.

The entire gang was wiped out and was out before the opening credits were even through. When the Scoobies all jumped from their dreams, they had awoken the two peacefully sleeping brunettes. They each explained their dreams and Giles remembered that he wanted to ask the dark slayer and her clone a question.

"Faith, Lilith, I was hoping that you would want to see someone about what you went through. I have a friend that would be willing to come out here and help you through your adjustments. She knows about demons and such so you wouldn't have to worry about that. I'm not saying you're mentally ill just that a little help would be beneficial." Giles announced.

"Um, so, you want us to attend therapy? G-man, I got to tell you that it really doesn't sound all that good but maybe it couldn't hurt. What do you say, Lilith?" Faith turned to the teenager, who was shocked that her opinion was even being taken into account.

"Yes, Faith." Lilith replied reverting back to her simple soldier answers.

"Good, that's fantastic. I will contact her tomorrow." Giles said with a smile.

AN: This is a short chapter but, if you have read my latest chapter for my other story, I've got a lot on my mind, hopefully that doesn't sound like an excuse. Please review and Sn 5 will start next week with the same main villain.


	13. Chapter 13

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Faith was chuckling as Lilith scowled at a bright yellow skirt that Buffy was showing the youngest slayer. They had gone shopping for Lilith since she only had one set of tattered clothing. In the store, most people were looking with discuss at the girl.

"That piece of clothing is a hindrance in fighting and doesn't help with stealth." Lilith informed the blonde.

"Oh god, you're going to be a literal mini Faith." Buffy remarked at the taller brunette.

"Well, then we'll know she has some good taste." Faith shot back.

"She is just a kid, Faith, and as good as you look in leather, she is way too young to be wearing that stuff. I'm mean, she only looks fifteen." Buffy informed Faith, who smirked.

"I didn't know you noticed how I look in leather, B." Faith flirted causing Buffy to blush a little.

"Can we leave now? People are noticing us and I was taught that is a bad thing." Lilith interrupted the two older slayers while holding a hand over her scar.

"No, we're not leaving until we get you some clothes. However, since you don't like anything in this section we can hit the other side." Buffy suggested and they walked to the men's side of the store.

"Hey, L, don't cover your scar. Who cares what these people think? You got that trying to help the world so there is no reason for you to be ashamed of it." Faith said to her clone placing an arm on her shoulders, which Lilith stiffened at.

"Why did you call me L?" Lilith asked confused.

"It's a nickname. I shortened your name like I did with B's. My way of showing I like you." Faith explained.

"So, her name isn't really B? I always thought it was." Lilith stated making Buffy pause and Faith to laugh.

"Ugh, I am never going to be rid of that stupid nickname." Buffy complained as she pulled a pair of regular blue jeans from the rack. "Will these do?" She asked ignoring the tall laughing brunette.

"They look functional." Lilith answered.

"Okay we can get these and stuff like this including a few shirts. Do you want new shoes or, I should say, some real shoes and not boots?" Buffy questioned looking back at the young teenager.

"My boots are sufficient for now." Lilith answered simply.

"B, I don't know why you are getting a bunch of shit. Lilith will be grown out of them in a few months or so." Faith chuckled.

"Yes, but girls always need clothing." Buffy explained blushing again.

"I don't think this is one of those times, B. Come on, she has lasted in one set of clothing for weeks besides I don't think we got enough money to pay a hell of a lot." Faith replied still chuckling.

Later that night, Buffy and Faith went out to patrol. They left Dawn and Lilith in the hands of Xander and Anya. As they were playing the game Life, A rock was thrown through the window and Lilith caught it without thinking. Hearing yelling from outside, they opened the front door and were met with the face of harmony and minions. Xander and Harmony were having a verbal battle through the door and Lilith was regretting not having her blades with her. Then Dawn made a fatal mistake and invited Harmony into the house before anyone could stop her.

As Harmony launched inside, she was hit with a kick to the midsection and set back out the door. Lilith now stood in the doorway glaring at the vampires. Lilith rushed the gang of vampires and hit the tallest one with a flying forearm. She caught an arm aimed for her head but, before she could do anything, she was hit with a boot from behind sending her to the ground. She rolled to avoid the pile up as they vampires jumped on top of where she was.

"A weapon would be effective in this situation." Lilith yelled to the group as she ducked and weaved striking every now and then.

A lamp was tossed to her, which after looking in shock at it; she took it and slammed it into the curly headed vampire. Harmony felt that this could turn badly and retreated. Lilith wanted to follow but B's words were stopping her. Buffy told the teenager to watch out for her sister and friends that made Lilith stay instead of pursuing.

"A lamp, really, that was the best thing you could get to me." Lilith said with surprising sarcasm, which she learned from Faith.

AN: Please review. Tell me what you would like to see or anything like that.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Thank you for all your reviews and I did put the right chapter 13. I didn't double check the document I selected but I was notified and I checked it out myself; I'm sorry and my bad. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Faith was leaning back against the couch and staring at a red head, with her hair in a bun, in a white button blouse and long tan skirt. The therapist was sitting straight up in a chair straight across from the brunette slayer. With her hands twitching every moment and knee bouncing, it was obvious that Faith was nervous about sharing her own feelings.

"Faith, we don't have to talk at all but this would be a good. From what I gather just looking at you, you aren't use to sharing your feelings." The therapist's Scottish voice spoke.

"Yeah, I've never done this Doc. I really only agreed to make sure L agreed." Faith replied honestly.

"Well, how about we start there? How is it, taking care of a clone designed to be a killer?" The Doc questioned which served to piss Faith off.

"She doesn't have to be a killer! She didn't know any better!" Faith yelled in anger jumping to her feet.

"I didn't mean it that way, Faith. I'm sure you will do all you can to make sure she doesn't end up like how you see yourself." Doctor Amy Pond told the enraged slayer.

"Fine, look, can we be done for the day or something? I told B I would train with her while L was doing her own session." Faith suggested already heading for the door.

"Yes, well, I will see you again." She responded as Faith opened the door.

Lilith looked up at her mentor, as Buffy had jokingly called her, and waited for orders. She had barley heard the outburst through the door and she didn't know how to feel about the older brunette sticking up for her like that. Not all of the gang had accepted the young slayer but Lilith mainly followed Faith's or Buffy's 'orders'. Faith took a deep breath before speaking to Lilith.

"So, I'm going to train with B while you are in there and will be back to get you after your session. Please, talk to her. We will train when you're done." Faith advised.

"Okay, Faith." Lilith replied like a soldier.

"Relax a little, L. You don't have to answer people like that anymore. I taught you what relaxing was so use it." Faith said throwing her arm around Lilith, as she walked to the door.

Lilith nodded and entered the room. Walking over to the same couch Faith had been sitting on, Lilith tried leaning back on it like Faith showed her but it seemed to unnatural and she straightened up. Doctor Pond was watching with interest as what looked like a young teenager sitting in the stiffest position possible. When Giles had informed her of the favor he was calling in, she thought it would be great to help the two and see how slayers handle the pressure of the world. The red head never thought that there would be such uneasiness from them at her presence. While one was fidgety and nervous, the other was on guard and weary of the slightest movement which she expected from what little information she was given about them.

"You must be Lilith. I'm Doctor Amy Pond and we are here to talk about you." Amy informed. "Let's start with something easy, how do you like living outside the Initiative compound?"

"Fine." Lilith answered simply thinking it was bad to give too much information.

"Care to explain, why is it just fine?" Amy asked.

"No, it is just fine." Lilith ground out.

"Okay, we will move onto another topic. What is it like being around Faith all the time? Do you ever want to just go out there and do something for yourself?" Doctor Pond wondered.

"I can't abandon my post or my commander." The young brunette stated with certainty.

"So, the other night you didn't go after that group of vampires because you were 'ordered' to?" The Scottish woman questioned.

"B ordered to watch out for her friends and sister. That means I couldn't eliminate the threat without leaving them defenseless." Lilith explained.

Meanwhile in Buffy's back yard, Faith and Buffy were circling each other catching their breaths before restarting their sparring match. Faith threw a left fist to Buffy's stomach and Buffy turned to the side to avoid it, leaving Faith a chance to kick her back. Buffy stumbled and took a shot to the ribs but she recovered and got a kick to the hip of Faith.

"How do you think Lilith is doing?" Buffy asked making small talk during training as she grabbed Faith's arm after a missed punch.

"Let's see, an almost soldier like teenager in a room with some who might push the wrong buttons….. I think I should've stuck around, for the Doc's safety." Faith replied breaking the hold and doing a successful leg sweep.

"Wow if that is how you envision Lilith's session going, then I got to wonder what yours was like." Buffy laughed as she rolled out of the way of a following kick.

"Don't even get me started, B. Hey, wait, what time is it?" Faith paused their sparring to look for a clock.

"There's one in the kitchen, Faith. What is this big need to know the time?" Buffy wondered at seeing the brunette slayer stopping their fight to know the time.

"I told L that I would be back to get her when her session was over." Faith answered shrugging her shoulders only to look back at the now laughing blonde with a confused expression.

"I'm sorry. It's just strange to see you trying to be so responsible. Hey, why don't I go with you? This way you have back up should Lilith be really agitated when we get there." Buffy offered though with a laugh at the beginning.

"Fine, you can come along." Faith agreed and they started walking. "How'd that search for that demon go last night?" she curiously asked.

"Ugh, we found it but Xander got hit with some sort of beam from its stick and it got away." Buffy explained in annoyance.

"Damn, wish I was there to help you. I wanted to make sure L actually got to sleep. She hasn't been sleeping well and, sometimes, not at all." Faith told the blonde with a worried tone.

"If you need any help, I'm here. I think Riley is getting a little mad at the amount of time I've been spending with you and mini-you." Buffy said with a little laugh at the end.

Back in the office, Amy was getting nowhere with the teenaged brunette. All questions were met with very short precise answers. Amy figured she should talk to Faith about getting Lilith to talk more before their next session.

"Okay, that's it for today. I hope next week will go much smoother but could you send Faith in?" Amy dismissed the teenager, who stood up and walked out without a word.

"Faith, Doctor Pond would like to see you. Hello, B." Lilith greeted when she entered the waiting area and Faith walked into the office.

"What did you need, Doc?" Faith wondered as she entered.

"First, I wanted to apologize if I touched a nerve earlier. Second, do you think there is a way to get Lilith to talk more or interact a little?" the Doc apologetically asked.

"Maybe, I'll try and it's no big deal. All is five-by-five." Faith replied as she left.

That night, Xander had been made into one person again after almost killing himself. Buffy had taken the night to spend with Riley to try and make up for all time she had been spending with the two brunettes. Faith and Lilith patrolled for a bit so maybe Lilith would tire herself out but while she did actually fall asleep that night it was filled with nothing but nightmares. Faith watched with worry as the young teen tossed and turned in their shared room. '_What can I do? Ugh, damn, I wish it was easier to make her talk but no she has to be so damn closed off. How can I help her if she won't talk?_' With those thought, Faith drifted into her own uneasy sleep.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. The name and description of the therapist goes to the creator of Doctor Who; I was watching that before I started typing. I realize I'm not doing some episode event and that is because I have yet to decide how to do those episodes but next week I will have it figured out. Again, I'm sorry about messing up chapter 13 but it is fixed.


	15. Chapter 15

AN: Through my week of thinking about Season 5, I felt that I can't decide about one event and will ask you the readers to decide. Do you want Joyce to develop her illness? Thank you for the reviews and BTVS doesn't belong to me. Please stay with my indecision for another week while I get your answers.

***Lilith's dream***

Lilith felt like she was held in place but she couldn't see anything through a pitch black space. There were voices rising in the blackened area and slashes of pain accompanying the voices. They kept repeating three words over and over with the young brunette clenching her jaw to stop herself from screaming at the pain.

"Killer." A rough voice accompanied what felt like a slice up her midsection.

"Murderer." The gravelly stated as cut to her upper thigh.

"Monster." An almost demonic voice said as a stab was felt through her heart.

"Agh!" Lilith screamed as she bolted upright from her sleep.

Before she gained her senses, there was a figure leaning over her and she snapped off a right hook. The figure caught the young slayer's wrists and pulled her arm across her chest also grabbing the wild swinging left arm doing the same with it.

"Lilith, Lilith, It's me, Faith. Calm down, nothing is going to hurt you. You're safe." Faith soothed from behind the girl holding her tight.

Lilith calmed at the sound of Faith's voice and the older brunette holding her. Eventually, the teenager realized the situation she was in and stiffened up causing Faith to sigh at her clone shutting down. The older brunette let go of the other and moved to sit beside her. Faith sighed again before she turned to Lilith and looked at her with worry.

"What was causing you to thrash and scream?" Faith questioned.

"It's nothing. I didn't mean to wake you." Lilith dismissed.

"Ugh, look, you don't always have to be so distant from everything. I guess you really are too much like me." The once rouge slayer commented.

"It's all I know, Faith. There is no room for emotion in being a soldier." She stated it as the Initiative had branded it in her.

"You don't have to live that way anymore. This isn't the little hell in the ground that beat you and they were wrong. Soldiers do have emotions 'cause that's how they stay sane." Faith informed.

"Then, why do what they did to me? Why was it so important that I remain so distant?" Lilith asked confused.

"I don't know but what I do know is that you don't have to be what they wanted you to be." Faith answered with certainty.

"What am I supposed to be?" the younger looked at her older counterpart like she had all the answers.

"Whatever you want to be, L. You decide your own fate but just try to have some fun while you live." Faith surprised herself with her own words. "Now, we should get back to sleep."

Later that morning, Buffy and Riley were talking and, suddenly, the conversation started getting heated when Riley brought up the fact that Buffy was hanging around Faith and Lilith so much.

"I told you, Riley. I'm trying to help them both actually settle down and help them with some of their issues." Buffy retold the ex-soldier.

"They have therapist to help them with their issues and I'm sure by now they have settled down. I don't know why you even bother with them. They deserve to be locked up for the murders they committed. If the Initiative was still around, they would be in cages where they belong." Riley seethed.

"Fuck you, Riley!" Buffy exploded. "They don't deserve to be in some cage or jail cell. They didn't know how to react to the situations and they made a bad call but, in the end, they tried to make it right. As for the Initiative, they never should have tried their fucked up operation in my territory. I was right when I thought they were just a big disaster waiting to happen. Look at what they did to Lilith, she can't even hardly show emotion because they tried to beat it out of her. Why did you even bring this up? I'm here with you, aren't I?"

"For now and then the next time Faith calls, you will run off to help her." Riley huffed.

"It's called being a good friend. I don't want Faith to feel like I'm back to just hanging her out to dry." Buffy replied.

"I understand being a good friend for somebody but you just drop everything. Sometimes, I wonder if you would rather be there than here with me." Riley accused.

"Maybe, at least with them I have some fun." Buffy said in anger as she stomped away from her equally angry boyfriend.

'_I can't believe Riley. What was I supposed to do? I can't just leave them on their own or they may end up hurting themselves or each other. I know I haven't spent much time with him but he shouldn't have said anything about something he doesn't understand. I get it that their hands aren't clean but that doesn't mean they don't regret it. Hell, Lilith wouldn't even understand that what she did was wrong. This mess can't be fixed in just a couple of months. I don't know, maybe, I just want to feel helpful. I mean, everyone has their own thing and Faith is really good with Lilith. Is it too much to want to be helpful and there for them? Maybe, I should leave them be for a while but I kind of don't want to. They are just fun to hang with sometime and I shouldn't have to give that up just because my boyfriend doesn't like it._' Buffy thought as she headed to her Watcher's apartment for the main source of her focus and, hoping, to be of use to the still sleeping brunettes.

AN: I know it will probably be a little short but I wanted your opinion on the Joyce matter before I delve deeper into the story. So please voice your opinions and review. I really hope that by next week I will have a clear picture.


	16. Chapter 16

AN: Thank you for the reviews and now I can start on getting on with the story. So, did Riley come off jealous or like an asshole? I was going for jealous but I think I went too far. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Faith, Buffy, and Lilith arrived at the Magic Box as per Giles' request. They were shown the backroom, which had been set up as a training room. After Buffy and Faith thanked Xander for making it, Faith pushed Lilith forward to thank them as well that ended with her just nodding her head at the two.

"B, can I talk to you for a moment?" Faith nodded her head to outside while the brunette made sure that Lilith was bust hitting the bag.

"What did you want, Faith?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"Are you okay? This morning you seemed a little tense when you showed up at Giles' place." Faith explained.

"Me and Riley had a little fight this morning about how much time I'm spending with you and Lilith. Some of the things he said threw me off a bit, I guess." The blonde slayed answered.

"Look, B, I like that you aren't treating me like last time but you don't always have to be there. Maybe he said those things 'cause he's jealous or something but, if you want, go spend time with him. Are you sure you really want to be with this guy? Not to tell you how to live or anything but this could be a part of you isn't into him." The once rouge slayer advised.

Before Buffy could answer, Giles appeared in the back alleyway telling the blonde that her mom had been admitted to the hospital. Buffy, Faith, and Lilith ran straight to Sunnydale General. The blonde slayer saw Dawn curled in a chair and ran to her sister, pulling her into a hug. Standing next to the teenager was a good-looking male nurse with brown hair, he introduced himself as Ben.

"Your mom just seems to have fainted but she seems fine." Ben informed the group.

"Are you sure? I mean, shouldn't there be test or something done?" Buffy asked unsure and panicked.

"The doctors' say it's just exhaustion so I wouldn't be too worried." Ben stated with certainty.

"Um, wouldn't double checking be better to do than just saying 'oh it's this so will just let her go'?" Faith questioned.

"Look, these people actually have a medical degree so I obviously they know what they're talking about." Ben commented with annoyance and continued with a muttered, "Unlike some people."

"Whoa, okay, I think we should just go see if my mom is closed to being released." Buffy pulled Faith with her away from the dark slayer's source of animosity. "What was that about, Faith?" Buffy wondered concerned.

"I've seen what happens when 'Doctors' just assume they're right." Faith stated starring off over Buffy's shoulder.

"What happened?" Buffy brought Faith's attention back to her and she could have sworn she saw a flash of something in the brunette's eyes but it was gone too quickly.

"Story for another time. Come on, let's get your mom." Faith shook her head to clear the images.

"Are you okay?" Lilith asked Dawn quietly.

"Um, yeah, I guess. It was just kind of scary to see my mom faint like that. I don't think I ever thanked you for stopping Harmony from getting in and hurting anybody, so thank you." Dawn replied with a small smile at the end.

"Not necessary, I was told to protect you. I was doing, what Faith says, a slayer is supposed to do." Lilith answered straightening up at the thank you.

"Are you sure they didn't give you a bit of Buffy too? Sounds more like my sister's answer then Faith's." The other brunette laughed.

"Yes, your hacker told me they only used Faith's DNA." She naively answered the hypothetical question.

"You get sarcasm but not jokes, wow. Faith must be slow on teaching you pop culture." Dawn chuckled before she ran to hug her mom, leaving the clone standing there with a confused expression on her face.

As they were about ready to leave, Riley appeared in the doorway of Joyce's room out of breath. Buffy pulled him out into the hallway to avoid stressing her mom.

"Look, Buffy, I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday and Giles told me that you were here." Riley looked truly sorry and Buffy forgave him by pulling him into a hug.

"It means a lot that you're here, Riley. I will try to be around more, okay?" Buffy suggested.

"Okay, thanks, Buffy." Riley smiled.

While that conversation was going on, Faith was paying attention to the entire situation and ran a hand through her long hair. Dawn noticed Faith's attention was solely on her sister and had to smile slightly at the agitated brunette. The group walked out of the hospital and made their way to the blonde slayer's home. Buffy and Riley were acting like a newly made-up couple but Faith's words were running over and over again through Buffy's head.

AN: I know it's short but I got a lot on my plate right now and can't focus. I'm sorry because it seems like I just keep making excuses or something but I swear it's all legit. Please review even if it is to yell at me for stalling.


	17. Chapter 17

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Lilith was in the back room of the Magic Box hitting away at the punching bag. She was waiting for Faith or Buffy to come in the small shop. Buffy was busy at school while Faith had her therapy session. The psychologist thought that the two brunettes might open up more if they didn't think the other could hear them through the door. After they returned from the hospital, Faith tried to convince Joyce that she should go somewhere else and double check her diagnoses and with a little help from the other Summers she agreed. Buffy had called in a favor with Angel to watch over her while she visited a hospital there in Los Angeles. Giles persuaded Joyce to let him help pay for some of the medical bills feeling like he owed it to his slayer's mother.

The brunette teenager was so focused on hitting the bag that she didn't noticed that someone entered the room until they put a hand on her shoulder. Lilith reacted automatically by grabbing the arm and forcing the intruder to the ground. Finally noticing that the person was Tara, she let go and backed away scared like the blonde might start beating her.

"I'm sorry, Lilith. I didn't mean to startle you." The blonde witch apologized, which was new for Lilith to hear. "What were you thinking about that had you zoning out so badly?"

"It's nothing just haven't been sleeping well." Lilith tried to dismiss.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" Tara tried to get the teenager to open.

"Yes, it's not a problem that I can tell." The cloned slayer said trying to divert the subject again.

"Look, I know that you still feel that you have to be what the Initiative wanted you to be but don't be afraid to let go of the apathy and start enjoying something in your life." Tara commented with sincerity

"You and Faith are both saying the same thing but I can't get any answers about what I should be if I can't be how I've always been. I don't get this world." Lilith stated shaking her head.

"Lilith, no one can answer you about what you should be. Your actions are what help you understand the path you will take in life." The blonde remarked sympathetically.

Across town, Faith was itching to get out of there. The whole time Faith was dismissing questions or just straight out ignoring them. While reading Faith's body language about her questions regarding why she tried to ruin Buffy, Amy thought that she had found a way to get Faith to start talking more about her problems.

"So while you were trying to make Buffy suffer, did you ever once stop being attracted to her?" the Scottish doctor questioned and Faith's eyes went wide.

"What, what are you talking about? I wasn't attracted to her and I was trying to ruin her life." Faith stammered looking everywhere but at the doctor.

"Faith, there is nothing wrong with liking Buffy. From what I've heard, she is quite a person to be around." Doctor Pond tried to calm the brunette's agitated state.

"Look, I don't like B that way." Faith sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

AN: It's another short one I know. I need to be able to function at work but I really wanted to get a chapter up. I'm sorry again it's not longer. But please review and tell me what you think.


	18. Chapter 18

AN: BTVS doesn't belong to me.

The blonde slayer was patrolling near an old warehouse. She was startled out of thoughts when an old man in a security uniform toughed her shoulder.

"You looking for the rave party? It's not here if you are. Drove them out last night" The old man informed her.

"Oh yes and, darn, I just love those raves. Guess I should be going." Buffy lamely replied as she turned and started off.

"Wait, take this too. I don't know what it is." The security guard handed her a medium golden sphere.

"Neither do I." Buffy mumbled as she took it.

Early next morning, Buffy walked into the Magic Box. She wanted to talk to Giles about the glowing orb she had gotten. The blonde was unsurprised to see the teenage clone there already but what did startle her was that she was sitting at the large table with books and paper in front of her. By the way her foot was bouncing up and down; she was in one of her restless states. Willow leaned over Lilith's shoulder and pointed at something on her paper.

"So, what's going on here?" Buffy asked as she approached the table.

"Hi Buff, I'm just teaching Lilith to write. Apparently, a verbal report was more reliable than a written one." Willow explained.

"How's that going?" Buffy chuckled as she saw the frustrated look on the brunette's face.

"Not well." Lilith grounded out as she concentrated on tiding up her handwriting.

"Anyway, Giles, look at what I got while patrolling last night." Buffy changed the subject by pulling out the sphere to show her watcher, who took it from her with interest.

"Hm, we shall have to do research. I have never seen something like this before." Giles said as he examined it.

"Yes, no more of this shit." Lilith replied excitedly flipping a book close.

"Watch your mouth and you are still working on your writing." Faith's statement came from the door to the work out area of the shop.

"Double standard." The younger brunette mumbled under her breath and reopened her book.

Across town, Riley was beating away at a punching bag and deep in thought about Buffy and him. '_All of it has changed since the Initiative was shut down. Buffy doesn't even seem to think of me the same anymore. We use to go out patrolling together but now I'm lucky if she even stops by afterwards. It's like without the Initiative I'm nothing special, just another Scooby. I just wish she would let me help her and keep her safe sometimes._' Riley starts to go at the bag harder as his doubts become worse.

Around noon, Tara stopped by the shop during her break as Willow and Buffy had class at this time. Faith had gone back to Giles' apartment for more books. Seeing Lilith at the table with her leg still bouncing, she decided that the clone needed a break from all the studying she had been doing.

"Hey, Lilith, why don't you take a break for a bit?" Tara asked as she sat down next to her.

"Okay, how are you?" She answered automatically.

"I'm doing good, thank you. And you? You're not sleeping well still that I can see." Tara stated seriously not giving her anytime to dismissingly say she was fine.

"They almost seem to be getting worse. I don't understand them." Lilith responded lowering her head. "Red seems to be happy about something." The brunette tried to change the subject."

"Yeah, I think she has something planed for my birthday in a couple of weeks." Tara smiled allowing the subject change as she felt that she had already pushed enough.

"What is a birthday?" the youngest slayer questioned confused.

"People celebrate the day you were born by giving you gifts and other stuff." Tara explained sadly and stood because she had to get back to campus. "How about we talk later?" She was answered with a nod as the blonde left the Magic Box.

"Lilith, how would you like to train for a bit?" Giles interrupted before the teenager had a chance to reopen her book.

"Okay, Watcherman." Lilith stated excitedly to be able to get out of studying for a while.

"I swear you use those names on purpose. Now, hit the gloves." The Englishman said as he raised the gloves in front of the clone's face.

Lilith started off putting in a good cadence even adding in a few kicks here and there. Suddenly, she didn't see the backroom of the Magic Box but the tall white room with a two-way mirror on the other side and splashes of blood covering the ground and walls. Lilith saw a panel slide up and a tall pale demon with two horns on the side of its head. It looked muscular enough to crush her but she knew that she would be killed if she didn't win. So, she charged at it with a fierce looking face. Ducking a swinging punch, the young brunette slayer kicked out its knee and jabbed its stomach twice. Lilith followed with a kick to the head. When the demon fell, she got on top of it and was prepared to finish it off but her arm was grabbed and the brunette was pulled from the demon.

The calling of her name and the worried tone behind it brought her out of her flashback. Lilith was looking at Buffy's freaked out face and the rest of the Magic Box came back to her. Willow was leaning over the crumbled form of Giles and Lilith was looking back and forth between Buffy's expression and the Englishman's unconscious body.

"Di-di-did I do that?" she asked freaking out but not waiting for an answer she jumped up and fled the building.

AN: So tell me what you think and please review. I will figure out a way to get these updates more regulated again and longer. Just hang tight.


	19. Chapter 19

AN: Thank you for the reviews. I just want to say that in a previous chapter I mentioned that Joyce was in L.A. for her cancer and I just want you to know that she is still there. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"Go, Buffy, I can take care of Giles." Willow stated and before she even finished Buffy was out the door.

Buffy ran out the front door and turned in the way she thought the distraught brunette. She was using slayer speed to try and catch her. It was hours later when Buffy returned to the Magic Box with a defeated look on her face. Most of the gang was gathered around the circular table but Faith was pacing back and forth in like a caged lion. The agitated brunette slayer stopped and stared at her sister slayer as she walked in dejectedly.

"W-where is she, Buffy? Come on, Buffy, where is she?" Faith asked her voice full of concern.

"I… I tried, Faith. I really did but I couldn't find her. I am so sorry." Buffy apologized looking down but her head snapped up when she heard the cussing and a sound of glass being broken.

"DAMN IT! THOSE FUCKERS!" The rouge slayer yelled as she threw another chair in no particular direction.

Unfortunately, Riley walked in at that moment and Faith, not thinking clearly, had decided to place blame on the soldier. Faith charged at her unsuspecting victim and started to punch him but was pulled off by Buffy before she could even a fist on him. Buffy was struggling to restrain the enraged brunette while Faith was still trying to get at Riley. The blonde's grip on her sister slayer was starting to slip when Giles shot Faith in the shoulder with the tranquilizer gun. Faith was starting to feel herself weaken but it didn't stop her from trying to hurt the ex-Initiative agent and as she fell into slumber she was still cussing. Riley got up from the floor and didn't look happy about being tackled by the brunette.

"She's insane." He seethed.

"I know she shouldn't have attacked you, Riley, but Lilith is missing. Faith isn't taking it so well." Buffy responded sympathetically as she carried the unconscious brunette to the couch in the back room.

"Oh, what happened?" Riley calmed a bit

"Giles and her were training when he said that she got this far away look in her eyes and she started fighting like it was life or death. When she came out of it, Giles was unconscious and she fled. I ran after her but I lost her. God, why did this have to happen." Buffy explained as her boyfriend pulled her into a hug.

"It'll be okay, Buffy. I'm sure she will come back when she's calmed down." He said trying to sooth her.

"Maybe you're right but I need to do something. I'm going to patrol and hope that I find her beating up on some demons or something." Buffy pulled away and walked out the door.

She was looking for demons where she had been last night. Hearing a noise coming from one of the buildings, she went in expecting to see a nest of vampires but all she found was a brown robed monk tied to a chair. The blonde ran straight for the innocent prisoner and was asking him if he was alright as she was getting him loose. Buffy noticed that his eyes kept going to something behind her. She caught the kicked aimed for her head and threw the young women away from her but the high priced blonde woman stood up without any effect from the throw.

"Get your hands off my holy man." She stated before dodging Buffy's hook and threw the blonde slayer into a wall, cracking the wall on impact.

Buffy staggered up and charged the mystery blonde woman. She tried to hit the other blonde with a right hook but it seemed to hurt the slayer more than her. Buffy then tried a kick to midsection but nothing happened. Hit after hit and nothing seemed to be working on this strange demon until the blonde demon sighed in boredom and slammed her fist into her blonde annoyance's ribs then her jaw causing her to break through a pillar. After the pillar gave way, the ceiling over top the demon collapsed on top of her. This gave Buffy a chance to pull the dying monk from the building but they only got as far as the gate before he couldn't go anymore.

"No, come on, we need to keep going in case she gets out of that rubble." Buffy urged.

"You must protect the key." The monk said as he wheezed.

"Hey, hey, stay with me. What's this key?" Buffy was trying to stop the inevitable.

"My brothers and I were tasked with protecting it from the Beast (Cough) but she found us. In our last act, we sent it here to you for protection. We made it into flesh (Cough) and sent it to you in the form of a sister." His breathing was getting worst as he fought to keep alive.

"Dawn." Buffy whispered then asked another question, "Does she know?"

"No, she is an innocent." The monk's voice softened at the end as he died and Buffy was left shocked.

Lilith was walking down a busy street with her arms crossed and her head down. She fled from the Magic Box scared of being punished like in her dreams and losing Buffy had been easy for her to do. After hitching a ride, she arrived at her destination. There was a tall building in front of her and as she walked through the front door a female voice spoke.

"Welcome to Angel Investigations, we help the helpless."

AN: Please review and tell me what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

AN: This all takes place pretty much at the end of the last chapter. I'm sorry I haven't been able to update but I will continue to try when I can. Also, I have never been to L.A. so I don't know if this hospital actually exists or not. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"I'm looking for Angel?" Lilith asked the brunette behind the counter.

"He's out on a case right now but just tell me your problem and I'm sure we can help you. By the way, where are you parents?" Cordelia looked around for any sign of the strange teenager's parents.

"I don't have any." The clone answered simply.

"Cordy, you can go home for the night. We got the demon." A tall short brown haired man in a long leather coat walked in, not noticing the shaking of Cordelia's head, with two other men behind him.

"You're Angel, then?" Lilith stood starring at the souled vampire.

"Yes, who are you?" Angel asked suspiciously.

"Lilith. I'm looking for Joyce." The youngest person in the room answered.

"You're Faith's clone. Buffy told me about you but visiting hours at the hospital are over. You can't get in." the champion of the helpless informed the teenager.

"I can sneak in so I'm not worried. Now just tell me the name of the hospital." Lilith snarled agitated that he wasn't helping her.

"Okay, okay, calm down. She's at Los Angeles General." Lilith strode past the group as Angel gave up the location. "Do they know you're here?"

"No, don't tell them please. I just don't want them to know I was here." The usually stoic teenager looked down almost afraid then she walked out.

Buffy, Giles, and, the now calmed, Faith were sitting in Buffy's living room. The last two sat stunned at what the blonde slayer had just told them. Buffy, herself, was still a little shocked. Her baby sister wasn't her sister at all, wasn't even human, it was scary for her.

"So, we're going to protect her, right?" Faith questioned uncertainly.

"Of course, we are. I can't send her to my father and she's my baby sister. I have to protect her." Buffy said freaking out.

"She isn't your sister, Buffy." Giles tried to reason and it failed.

"Yes, she is. The monks made her out of me. She's innocent." The blonde slayer was still freaking out when she turned to Faith. "What would you do if it was Lilith?"

"I'm not saying you need to keep her at a distance or that she is somehow not your sister anymore. I'm with you on this." Faith responded with determination but she was interrupted from saying anymore by the telephone ringing and Buffy walked off to answer it.

"Well, I got some good news." Buffy said as she walked back into the room. "That was Angel. Guess who showed up in L.A.?"

"Lilith. What is she doing there?" Faith relaxed at the news of the whereabouts of the teenager she views as her own little sister.

"To see my mom actually. Oh, Cordy wants to know 'why did psycho slayer clone herself'." The blonde slayer laughed.

It was early morning when Joyce woke up from her sleep. She felt a weight down by her leg and was surprised to see the brown hair of Lilith's resting on her bed. The usually unemotional teenager looked surprisingly vulnerable as she slept peacefully with her face completely relaxed. The oldest Summers watched for a couple more minutes before she thought that Lilith's neck might get uncomfortable like that and regretted waking her up.

"Lilith, Lilith, come on wake up." She said sweetly and the brunette jumped up. "Hey, you're okay."

"Oh, Joyce, you're awake." Lilith observed feeling a little skittish.

"Yes, I am. Now, would you like to tell me why you are here and how did you get past the staff?" The blonde wondered.

"I was designed for this. As to why…" the clone trailed off nervously.

"It's okay. You can tell me anything." Joyce said motherly.

"I-I-I I was training with the watcher and suddenly I was back in the lab facing a demon. I didn't know what was real or not. When I snapped out of it, Giles was in bad shape." Lilith stumbled through her explanation and Joyce pulled the young girl into a tight hug.

"Lilith, you listen to me. You do not have to be what those monsters wanted. You are a person, yes a person. Not a monster, not a demon, and certainly not an unemotional soldier. You are Lilith and you can be whoever you want to be." The blonde mother spoke with such intensity in her words and eyes as she starred into the teenager's own eyes leaving her stunned and awed. "I do think you should apologize to Mr. Giles though."

Lilith walked out of the hospital later that evening. Joyce had lifted some of the emotional burden Lilith had on her shoulders leaving the clone with a surprising smile on her face. A man and woman in nice dress suits got out of a limo in front of the hospital and approached the teen.

"We're from Wolfram and Hart. You are coming with us." The man ordered as though he was her superior.

Lilith with a smirk that could rival Faith's only said: "Screw that." and walked off.

AN: please review and feel free to ask any questions. I will try to update when I can.


	21. Chapter 21

AN: Thank you for the reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

"So, how was the hospital?" Angel asked from his office doorway as Lilith walked into the lobby.

"Good, though these two people in suits on the way out tried to make me go with them. Faith was right there are a ton of weird people in the world." The brunette was chuckling at that last part.

"Suits? What did they look like?" The souled vampire had an idea on who these people were.

"Both had brown hair, one was a girl the other a guy. Oh, they said they were from Wolfram and Hart." She answered.

"Lilah and Lindsey; they're trying to destroy me and cause hell on Earth." Angel explained.

"Oh, no wonder they wanted a trained assassin. How'd Buffy react when you called her?" Lilith smirked at the champion's shocked look. "You weren't exactly discreet when I walked in here a few minutes. You looked a little guilty."

"Anyway, why doesn't Wesley take you to Sunnydale?" The vampire turned to the former watcher.

"Not that I don't want to go to Sunnydale, but why me?" The Englishman questioned.

"You know the area better than Gunn; and me and Cordy need to stay in case she has a vision." Angel explained his decision.

Wes finally agreed and they were off. It was after dark by the time that they arrived at the Hellmouth. Lilith advised the Brit to go to the Magic Box as that is where the group usually was at night or, really, anytime of the day. Wesley, despite his intention to just drop her off at the shop, turned off the car and walked in causing some people to stare in shock at the sight of the former annoying watcher.

"Giles, I'm sorry that I beat you up. I don't know what was going on in my head. So, what have I missed?" Lilith jumped up onto the counter when she got close enough.

"Wes, did you give her drugs?" Faith glared at the Englishman to show the seriousness of the question.

"Bloody hell, no. I would never do such a thing." Wesley stammered.

"I'm not on drugs, Faith. For once in my existence, I feel like a normal person." Her clone smiled from on top the counter trying to save the Brit for Faith's glare.

"Wow, I'm going to guess your talk with my mom went well?" Buffy questioned the, for once, smiling teenager.

"Yeah, but thanks for bringing me home, Wes." Lilith called to the man as he left and the others said their goodbyes as well. "You never told me what I missed."

"Nothing much just a few vamps here and there." The blonde slayer explained not wanting the whole gang to know about Dawn and Faith shot Buffy a questioning look.

Later that night, Faith, Lilith, Giles, and Buffy walked into Giles' apartment. The youngest brunette was attempting to go straight to bed but was stop with Faith asking her to come, sit, and talk for a minute. Buffy explained to the cloned teen about what Dawn was and that something was after her. Lilith sat in thought over what she had been told when a determination set in on her face.

"I won't let her be hurt." The young woman stated fiercely.

"Okay, this is all good but we must at least tell the others about the demon so we can begin researching her as well." Giles advised.

"You're right but I think the less people that know about the key the better. It might mean that we keep this from Dawn too. I don't want someone to slip up and it get back to this bitch." Buffy compromised.

"Are you sure that this should be kept from Dawn?" Lilith wondered. "If she finds out about this another way, it could end very badly but, on the other hand, keeping it from her might ensure she doesn't get any stupid ideas about whatever happens as her fault and could stop her from doing anything foolish."

"I don't know what to do. All I know is that Dawn's in trouble and I got to keep her safe and if by doing that means keeping this from her than I'll do it." The blonde slayer answered determinedly.

"We get it, B. You want to protect her and we'll go with whatever you chose to do." Faith tried to calm her sister slayer.

Couples of weeks later and days before Tara's birthday, Buffy and Xander were researching the new demon. The two were discussing what to get the blonde Wicca for her birthday and couldn't decide on anything. Lilith was listening intently to their discussion while 'working' on a math paper that Willow had given her and waiting for Tara to show up to help her with some of the English stuff she didn't get as Tara had a way of explaining it for her to understand.

"So, are you guys all witches?" A young man in a green jacket with a scraggly beard approached the group and the group starred at him like he was high.

"Donny." Tara's voice stopped anything Xander was going to say. "W-w-wh-wha-what ar-are yo-you do-do-doing here?"

"Can't I come see my little sister for her birthday?" He almost sounded cheerful but the look on Tara's face said she was less than happy.

"Is that anyway to greet your family?" An older short haired man walked in followed by a blonde woman in a pink top.

"D-d-dad, Cousin Beth, hi." Her voice was shaky as she greeted her family.

"I stopped by your dorm room and some people told me I might find you here. I want to take you out for your birthday tonight. I'll pick you up at six." Mr. McClay ordered. "It was nice meeting you all."

Buffy and Faith walked into the Summers' home and saw Riley descending the stairs. He greeted his girlfriend with a smile and a sweet little kiss. Dawn came down not seconds later and was about to walk out the door when Buffy caught her on the arm.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Buffy demanded.

"I'm going to Melinda's for dinner." Dawn answered annoyed.

"Since when?" Some part of her knew she was being irrational.

"Now-ish." The Brunette Summers was getting an attitude.

"B, how about I walk her over there, just in case? I should probably go anyways." Faith suggested.

"Okay. Dawn have a good time." The blonde slayer smiled gratefully at her slaying partner as the two brunettes left.

"What was that about, Buffy?" Riley asked.

"I just don't think it's safe for her to be going anywhere she wants right now. I have to protect her and I can't do that if she doesn't listen." Buffy vaguely explained.

"It's just across the street, Buffy. I don't think it's that dangerous." The ex-Initiative agent laughed.

"Ugh, you don't get anything could happen to her and you're laughing about it." The now pissed off slyer walked around him from the doorway and tried to go upstairs but was caught by her boyfriend.

"Look, I'm sorry but maybe you should tell me what has you so on edge." Riley tried to apologize but Buffy couldn't think of anything to tell him so he took it as a bad sign. Grabbing his coat, he heads towards the door but before he leaves he says, "When you feel like letting me in, you know where to find me."

It was later that night when Tara watched the Scoobie meeting from the room. She didn't want to leave the new home she had found but the blonde didn't want them to see what she really was. She said the words to a spell that would hide her true self from them. There was only a slight pause in Giles' speech as the spell settled in them but they were unaware of anything. The blonde felt horrible doing that to the people she had grown to love like a new family but she couldn't go home with her father.

After the meeting, Faith, Buffy, and Lilith were lightly sparring with each other. They suddenly felt their slayer senses go off and looked around for what could be causing it. Not seeing anything, the blonde slayer closed her eyes to listen to what's going on around her. She heard a noise just behind her and shot her foot out hitting something. Buffy heard her sister scream and ran out the room. Tara ran into the middle of the store and reversed the spell then was shoved into the counter. Finally seeing the tall white demon, the blonde slayer sweep kicked it causing it to fall onto the steps and Buffy broke its neck on them. That's when Tara's family walked in.

"What in God's name are those things?" Mr. McClay demanded.

"Lei-ach demon. Funny little buggers. Big with the marrow sucking." Spike spoke walking in from the back with the other two slayers and Lilith ran to try and help Tara.

"What happened?" Buffy asked turning to the scared blonde on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm s-s-so s-s-so-sorry." Willow came to lean down by her girlfriend and Tara continued looking at her, "I-i-i was trying to hide. I didn't want you to see… what I am."

"What do you mean 'what you are'?" Buffy interrogated.

"Demon. The women in our family have demon in them. It's where the magic comes from." Tara's father provided the explanation. "We came to take her home before something like this happened."

"You cast a spell on us to keep us from seeing your demon side." Giles sounded like he didn't want to believe it.

"I'm sorry. I'll just go." Tara stood up but was stopped by a freaked out red head.

"Wait, go? You just did a spell that went wrong. I trusted you more than anyone in my life. Was all that just a lie?" Willow asked looking desperately at her everything.

"No, of course not…"

"It is none of your concern. The girl belongs with her family. I hope that is clear to everyone?" The blonde was interrupted by her father.

"Oh, it is. You want her, you can have her." Buffy paused before turning to the older man. "You're just going to have to go through me."

"And me." Dawn chimed standing next to her sister.

"You want to take Tara out of here against her will; you have to deal with me." The blonde slayer wanted to make it sink in.

"I will not be threatened by two little girls." Mr. McClay snarled.

"You're not just dealing with two little girls." Giles responded to the obvious threat and everybody nodded in agreement.

"Dad, don't tell… Tara, you get in the car or I swear by god I will beat you down." Donny pointed his finger at the blonde but his arm was grabbed and he was thrown into the counter then onto his back the face of Lilith snarling was all he could see.

"Big mistake." Lilith growled. "Now, Tara doesn't want to go so get the fuck out of here or I'll rip your arms off."

"Wait, what kind of demon is she?" Anya asked from her position behind the counter.

"What does it matter?" Beth stammered.

"Evil is evil." Mr. McClay stated matter of factly.

"Bull shit." Faith scoffed.

"Ah, I think I see what's going on here." Spike said as he moved through the gang and tapped on the blonde's shoulder punched her in the face then grasped his head in pain. "There's no demon in there. Just a story to keep the birds in line, I like you."

After being be thoroughly embaressed, the McClay's left and leaving everybody to celebrate Tara's birthday in peace.

AN: Please review and ask any questions you have.


	22. Chapter 22

AN: Thank you for the reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

A couple of weeks after Tara's birthday, Buffy was in the back room of the Magic Box pounding fist after fist into the hanging bag. She was so focused on getting everything out that she didn't notice the tears leaving her eyes or Faith walking into the back. The blonde slayer felt herself being turned and swung at her assumed attacker but the brunette stopped her fist before she had a chance to hit her jaw. Buffy was shocked to see she had almost hit Faith and quickly apologized.

"Faith, I'm so sorry." The blonde lowered her head to try and hide the tears she was wiping away.

"It's cool, B. Not like you actually hit me this time." Faith smirked trying to lighten the mood but continued seriously, "I know this situation has you all strung out but maybe you should take Dawn and go to L.A. for a while. It can't be easy taking care of a teenager when you're still trying to figure out your own life. I can take over until we find this bitch and you can keep Dawn safe."

"I can't just leave everyone here, Faith. It's not that I don't trust you but I'd worry if everyone was alright." Buffy sighed.

"Then, talk to someone about this or let the gang know about Dawn. You're going to run yourself ragged if you continue like this, Buffy." The brunette warned concerned.

"I can't do that or they'll act weird around her. Don't worry about me, Faith. This isn't my first apocalypse." The blonde argued.

"I'm trying to help here but you are treating me exactly like you did two years ago and this time I'm actively trying to help you. So, let me help you." Faith begged her blonde counterpart.

"I don't know what to do. I mean my life has just been manipulated to believing I have a sister and, now, there is some demon coming after her and I have to protect her; then, Mom is sick and…" Buffy trailed off as she fell to the floor and cried.

"Shh, Buffy, everything will work out." The brunette pulled her into an awkward hug. "This demon has to get through three slayers and your mom is getting great help at the hospital. You are a great slayer and person so don't get too strung up and let people help you."

"Thank you, Faith." Buffy said once she calmed down. "I'm glad you decided to stay."

"Eh, you just need someone who will kick you in the ass to get you out of that funk you get in." Faith joked lightly and the blonde smiled a little as well.

"So, where is Lilith? Isn't she usually here like at dawn?" Buffy asked wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, about that, I unplugged her alarm clock. Kid wakes up early every morning and trains; so, I thought she could use this morning off." The brunette answered while her blonde counterpart gave her a wide eyed look. "She's going to be pissed, I know."

Lilith shot up in bed and ran out of the room. She barely made it to the bathroom before she vomited into the toilet. After the vomiting was over, she washed her mouth under the faucet but couldn't lift her head to look in the mirror. The scenes from her dream kept popping up and the brunette sunk to the floor grabbing her head and bringing her knees to her chest. Every time she closed her eyes the images of Dawn tore into small pieces or the many faces of the gang being tortured in some hellish dimension would flash. All these pictures were making her silently scream in terror and sick at the same time as she scooted back into a corner.

'_Is this what happens when you let things and people in? How does anyone function like this? God, why can't I get these images out of my head? If this is what's going to happen if we fail then I'm not going to let this happen. I will die trying to prevent these images from coming true._' Lilith resolved her determination to succeed. Her inner monologue helped her calm down enough to unsteadily stand up out of the corner.

In a mansion on a hill overlooking Sunnydale, a blonde haired woman paced back and forth in an expensive looking dress. She was mumbling to herself as she walked but stopped when two scabby looking demons dragged in a struggling older man in a mail uniform. She put her hands to each side of her hands then a light enveloped the head as her fingers into his head. When she pulled them out, the man started to talk to himself and she turned to the two that had brought him in.

"Now, where the hell is my key? I know that the Slayer has it but I don't know where she hid it. I want my key!" The crazy woman yelled stomping her foot in her tantrum.

"Glorificus, I found a spell that may help us find what you are looking for, oh most beautiful one." A robbed minion ran into the room and groveled.

"Well, get on with it." Glory ordered.

AN: I'm sorry if this comes up a little short but I thought it sounded like a good place to stop. Please review and tell me what you think.


	23. Chapter 23

AN: Thank you for the reviews. Sorry it has taken so long for me to update. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Lilith had showered and dressed after her mental breakdown and made her way to the Magic Box. After entering, she went straight to the back hearing Buffy and Faith sparring. She walked in to see the blonde do a leg sweep from the floor causing her brunette opponent to fall to the ground. Buffy took the advantage and rolled to straddle Faith with her right fist raised back. The two stared at each other for a bit before the newly arrived teen cleared her throat causing both to jump up from their previous position. Faith smirked at her clone as she walked over and threw her arm over the young brunette's shoulders, whose eyes held a hint of annoyance.

"Ah, you finally grace us with your presence." Faith said jokingly.

"Only 'cause someone unplugged my clock." Lilith grumbled as she bent her knees threw the arm off her shoulders and pulled Faith into a headlock. "Not so funny now."

Buffy watched amused as the older brunette grabbed her capture by the knees and extended her back effectively picking up the clone. Faith had a cocky smirk on her as she tossed Lilith over her back and took off before the other landed running after her. The older brunette would dodge every attempt at a grab from the youngest slayer, who wore a more determined look with every miss grab. The blonde grabbed the unsuspecting Faith from behind and laughed as Lilith tackled both to the floor.

"I am the victor." The teen exclaimed in celebration.

"Only 'cause B helped you." Faith sulked playfully but then burst out laughing as well as the other two.

Not long after that, the trio went their separate ways. Buffy went to see Riley while the other two had appointments. Buffy knocked on her boyfriend's door, smiling when the soldier answered. Riley looked surprised at seeing the blonde on his doorstep as she had been distant with him since he walked out of her house after their argument a couple weeks ago. Riley moved out of the way and gestured for her to enter.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Riley asked.

"I came to see you, of course." Buffy answered with a small smile.

"Oh, sorry, it just after our last conversation you seem to not want me around." The former soldier explained with a slightly upset tone in his voice.

"I want you around, Riley; you just don't understand what is going on." She replied getting defensive.

"Then tell me." Riley insisted desperately.

"I… I don't know if I can. It's just… This feels so much worse than anything I have ever dealt with before and I don't know if I can do this with you right now." Buffy freaked.

"Really, well then why show up here at all? You can't do this with me maybe you should just go then." He pointed to the door in his anger then turned and walked out of the room.

Buffy walked dejectedly into the Magic Box. Seeing the gang gathered around the table looking worried, the blonde panic about what could have happened while she had been away.

"What happened?" Buffy asked as she approached the table.

"Giles sold dangerous magic items to the demon you've been after." Anya bluntly explained and the blonde slayer stared at her watcher with disbelief.

"I'm sorry, Buffy." Giles apologized. "But we have figured out what she may be planning to do. I think she is going to transmogrify a snake into a demon."

"Okay, so I will head to the Zoo. Inform Faith and Lilith when they get back. Have one of them pick up Dawn from school if I'm not back by then." She ordered as she made her way to the door.

Once the other two had returned, the gang filled them in and Faith took off after her blonde counterpart. Little while later, the two elder slayers returned with Buffy hanging on to Faith to help keep standing. The gang rushed over to help the two slayers and asking them what happened. After explaining and bandaging them up, they explained about what happened in the Zoo and the now human sized king cobra roaming around town.

Later that night, the snake demon burst into the shop through the window and stopped right in front of Dawn. It raised its head as the slayers attacked it and swatted Buffy over the counter, Faith onto the table, and Lilith into the display case at the top of the stairs. Catching sight of the screaming Dawn, its eyes flashed and it took off back out the window. As it was leaving, Lilith tried to stall it by grabbing its tail but had to let go as her shoulder impacted the window display ledge, leaving Buffy and Faith to run after it.

The snake had almost made it all the way back to the mansion before the two caught up with it. Buffy jumped on its back and attempted to choke it with a chain she had picked up while Faith fought it from the front. The snake started swinging wildly and it caught Faith in a swing sending her into a nearby tree. The blonde held on as it tried to get her off its back but it started to weaken and eventually collapsed. As Buffy relaxed, the beast through her off itself but before it got too far the blonde jumped on it again and struck its head. The creature rolled onto its back and the slayer above it continued to beat it until nothing was left. A shaky looking Faith approached the still fighting woman and pulled her off the unmoving creature.

"It's dead, B. It's dead and Dawn secrete is still safe." Faith said as she pulled Buffy into a tight hug and the blonde broke down in her arms for the second time that day.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. Sorry again it took me so long to update.


	24. Chapter 24

AN: Thank you for reading and any reviews I have gotten. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Willow and Tara gazed at the night sky laying on a blanket watching the night sky. Tara was pointing at the ones she made up when she turned to Willow and asked her to try. That's when they saw the flaming meteor fly across the sky. It lite up the sky with a red hue as it crashed into the ground. Willow ran inside to call Giles about what they saw. While the Scoobies gathered, a man roamed through the forest muttering to himself as he looked up a tree a shadowy figured jumped down and landed on top of him.

The group walked through the wood checking for the meteor. Far in the woods, they finally found it and Riley jumped down to check it out. They saw that the rock was hollow and cracked as if something broke out of it. As the soldier reached to open it, Anya decided to speak up.

"Is it hot? 'Cause if it is, it could mean radiation and you all could go sterile." The blonde ex-demon said bluntly causing Xander to jump back in fear.

"It's warm but I don't think it's radioactive." Riley informed.

"So some evil thing slithered out of there." Willow guessed.

"We don't necessarily know it slithered." Giles replied cautiously.

"Um, guys, you might want to look at this." Lilith called from further into the woods.

Everyone ran over there and saw her standing over the body of a man. She had her hand down to his neck to check for a pulse but looked up and shook her head, gesturing that he was dead. Buffy paled when he saw the man as she recognized the man as the guard of the factory building she fought Glory for the first time.

"B, what's wrong?" Faith asked putting her hand on the blonde slayer's shoulders in comfort.

"I met him. He was the guard of the buildings where I first fought Glory." Buffy explained remorsefully.

"We'll get it, B." The brunette assured her counterpart.

"Uh, can I get a pen or something?" The clone questioned still examining the body.

Riley crouched down next to the brunette teen and handed her a pen. She stuck one end into the mouth and swirled it around before bringing it up for them to see it covered in a sticky substance. The smell of the substance was so bad the group heaved like they were going to hurl.

"Ugh, I think that is what killed him." Riley pointed out.

"Let's not touch it. It could be toxic." The former Watcher says earning an incredulous look from the two closest to the body.

"Okay, so research?" Willow wondered and everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Why don't you go do that and I'll examine the body some more?" The former Initiative agent suggests. "I'm not good at research. I like me a good old fashion crime scene."

"Do you want company?" Everyone turned a surprised look to the kneeling clone, who rolled her eyes at the looks. "What? I just wanted out of looking in books all night."

"Thanks for the offer, I think, but no I got it." Riley declined.

"Are you sure?" The blonde slayer asked apprehensively.

"I'll be fine, Buffy. I'll call if I need anything." The soldier assured his worried girlfriend.

Once the group had left the area, Riley pulled a phone from his pocket and spoke on an emergency line with Graham. A couple minutes after the call ended the forest was lite up with light from a helicopter. Soldiers dressed in full tactical gear jumped out and started examining the area. Graham stepped out followed by the leader of the group.

"You Finn?" He asked as he stepped in front of Riley, who nodded in response. "I'm Major Ellis and I'm in charge of this op. What's the situation?"

"As far as I know, one dead civilian and what might be an extraterrestrial on the loose." The former agent pointed to the hollowed rock before tossing the Major a vial of the stuff down the victim's throat. "It killed the man with this type of protein alkaloid but it's breaking down to fast to track it."

"How do you suggest we track it then?" Ellis questioned.

"I think it's giving off some sort of radiation." Riley suggested.

"Alright, we'll break out the Geiger counters. Now, I don't need civilians on my op." The Major turned his back to the angered soldier.

"Sir, Finn could be of use. He's not just another civie." Graham said trying to convince his senior officer.

"Look, Miller, he may have been one of us once but I don't want an agent in this just for one op 'cause it's in his town. We have orders and procedures we need to follow so, Finn, if you want in it has to be all the way." Ellis informed.

The Scoobies had gathered in the UC Sunnydale library to find more information on the creature. Lilith had suggested that she go watch Dawn if this was going to take all night and Buffy agreed with her.

"I don't get why we had to come here to get information about a killer snot monster." Xander said looking around the astronomy section.

"Because it is a killer snot monster from outer space." Giles paused then hung his head. "I did not just say that."

The group finally sat and started looking up any strange meteor crashes. After a while, most of the group had found nothing similar to what they had found that night. Willow interrupted them.

"I've found something. There are occurrences that go back as far as the Queller impact in the twelfth century." Willow said.

"Queller, I know I've read something here, ah, Queller." Xander hands the book off to Giles.

"It seems that primitive people believed insanity was caused by the moon and the people would pray to the moon to get rid of the insane. The moon would send something down to quell the madmen." Giles summarized.

"Um, so, was the guy in the forest crazy?" Faith turned Buffy.

"Didn't seem like it when I met him but you never know." The blonde shrugged.

"If this has to be summoned, who summoned it?" Tara asked the group wearily.

"Who else? Glory our resident beastie summoner." Xander stated.

"I think right now we should focus on finding the Queller first. Let's call Riley on what we found and get him out of the woods." Buffy suggested heading for a phone in the library.

"Buffy, hey, what's going on?" Riley answered when he picked up his phone.

"We found the demon. It's called a Queller and it attacks crazy people. So, you can meet us at the house as we figure out where to find it." The blonde informed him.

"Uh, We, I found it at the hospital, Buffy, and cornered it." He turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder Graham nodded at his questioning look. "It's dead, Buffy. All taken care of."

"What do you mean 'we', Riley? Don't think I missed that part." Buffy yelled into the phone.

"Uh, can we meet up somewhere private?" Riley asked nervously.

"Fine, the park." The blonde sighed her replied not feeling good about what was going on.

"What's going on, B?" Faith asked at Buffy's dejected face.

"Riley got the Queller. He wants to talk to me privately. I don't feel good about this." The blonde slayer answered sadly.

"Hey, I'm sure it will be okay, B." The brunette tried to reassure her but it didn't work to well.

Buffy left after giving Faith a slight smile at the attempted comfort. She saw Riley pacing in front of a bench nervously and looking at his watch every couple of seconds. She gave a deep sigh and approached him.

"I'm here, Riley. What did you want to talk about?" Buffy asked not looking at the pacing soldier.

"After you guys left, I called Graham about what happened. He brought some special ops guys with him that's how we got the demon." Riley paused giving the slayer enough time to absorb the information.

"So, is that it? You could have told the rest of the group this." Buffy looked skeptical.

"They offered me a position with them and I said yes. I leave tonight." He answered looking away from the shocked look on the slayer's face.

"What? Why did you just decide to go back?" The blonde asked freaking out.

"I miss it, Buffy, and it was the only way I could help get this demon." Riley tried to explain.

"Then, go, just go! You miss it so much just get out of here!" Buffy yelled before she took off with tears in her eyes.

AN: Thank you for reading and please review. There are a few things I had to change since Joyce wasn't in the hospital for the Queller to attack her and to keep Buffy from investigating with the gang. I decided with these changes to go ahead and have Riley leave. Again thank you for reading and please review for me. I get nervous when people don't tell me anything whether good or bad.


	25. Chapter 25

AN: Thank you for reading. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Buffy woke up in a strange place for a moment not recognizing where she was until the previous night came back to her. She started to feel more tears come to her eyes as she remembered Riley telling her he was leaving. She knew she ran crying after yelling at him to go and ended up at Giles' place. She threw herself into Faith's arms and cried into the brunette's should for the third time. Seeing said slayer sleeping while she leaned on the wall like she was keeping watch, the blonde felt guilty about pulling her into the drama that was her life and even more guilty when she realized that she had left Dawn for the night.

Buffy jumped out of the bed she had slept on and tried to leave quietly without waking Faith. The blonde slayer only made it to the bedroom door before she heard a chuckle from behind her. Buffy turned and saw the trademark smirk from her brunette counterpart.

"Usually, I'm the one sneaking out of a bedroom." Faith said as she stood up.

"Sorry, I just realized that I left Dawn all night." The blonde apologized quickly as she walked from the room.

"Don't worry, L's still with her so it's not like she's unprotected." The brunette slayer tried to reassure the worried woman. "Besides, I think I'm due an explanation as to why you knocked on the door in tears and all I got was a Riley's gone."

"He… uh… he took up a job from some special ops group, that's like the Initiative, and he left me. Well, I screamed at him to go but it's over between us and I didn't think as I ran." Buffy explained as she felt tears come to her eyes again and Faith pulled her into a hug but broke apart soon after when someone cleared their throat.

"Ah… yes… well… um…Since you're here, I have something I would like to tell you and I don't think either of you will like what I'm about to stay. I'm going to London for a week to try and convince the council to help us with our Glory situation." Giles informed uncomfortably.

"I think you are wasting your time on this. The last time they tried to kill me they said that we wouldn't get any help from them." Faith advised the ex-watcher.

"I think I can make them see reason to let go of old grudges. The world is at stake and they should be more that intelligent enough to realize that Earth is more important than a redemption seeking slayer." The British man responded trying to stay positive before he looked to his slayer, who'd been silent so far.

"Just don't tell them about Dawn. I will take whatever information they can give us but I can't let them find out about Dawn. The Council isn't exactly known for their approval of anything that isn't human." Buffy agreed reluctantly.

"Of course, Buffy, I was planning to tell them about the key but I won't be telling them the whole story." Giles remarked with a smile at the approval from the blonde.

Over at the Summers' house, Dawn ran down the stairs hoping to find Buffy in the Kitchen or something after seeing her sister's room was empty. As she reached the last step, she noticed a figure on her couch still sleeping. Lilith had stayed the night to keep Dawn safe when Faith had called to tell her that Buffy wasn't going to be making it home just then. Dawn shook the sleeping soldier awake but didn't expect to be pinned and have a knife shoved to her throat with a snarling slayer on top of her. A whimper of fear escaped from the scared key and it seemed to wake Lilith from wherever she was. The clone jumped off down like she had been hit and immediately looked down at the floor in regret.

"Dawn, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm so sorry." Lilith apologized.

"Um, it's okay. I probably shouldn't have tried to wake you up by shaking you." Dawn tried to play it off but there was still some fear in her eyes. "Um, do you know where Buffy is?"

"Yeah, Faith called last night while you were sleeping and said Buffy was going to stay there for the night." The brunette slayer explained.

"Why would she stay there?" The youngest Summers wondered.

"I didn't think to ask." Lilith shrugged. "But, I'm sure it's nothing important."

"It's not like they tell me anything anyway." Dawn scoffed.

"I thought you would be happy to have the life that Buffy can't have. You don't have to worry about fighting evil every night and wondering if it's doing any good. You can have the social life your sister wanted. I just don't see why you get so upset about not being with the Scoobies when you get to focus on having fun." The cloned slayer was confused as to the Key's complaint.

"Like you would understand, you're not excluded from anything having to do with demons." She stormed off in a huff as she ran back up stairs and as her door slammed the two chosen slayers came in, hearing the bedroom door slam they looked at the clone.

"I don't understand people." Lilith said shaking her head in confusion.

Later that day, Anya and Willow conjured a troll accidentally during a fight about who Xander agreed with more. During a fight at the Magic Box, the three slayers got the Troll's hammer from him and Buffy proceeded to let her frustrations out on him about breaking up with Riley. The troll was knocked unconscious and sent back to where it had come from while Xander and Anya made up. The next couple of days were spent fixing the damage done to the Magic Box again.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. Thanks again for reading.


	26. Chapter 26

AN: Thank you for reviewing. Sorry, it has taken me so long to update. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

The gang had gathered in the Summers' living room waiting to hear what Giles had found out from the Council. He was silent for a long time knowing that the two chosen slayers wouldn't like the news that he was about to give. After bracing himself for their reaction, he started to speak to get it over with and turned to the blonde slayer.

"So, I spoke with the Council and they agreed to find information on Glory and you'll get it when they arrive sometime this week." Giles said nervously.

"Wait, they're coming here? Can't you get them to not come here? Bad things happen when they come here." Buffy expectedly freaked out.

"Did they say anything about me?" Faith wondered.

"I tried but it was apartment that Travers is an arse. He will be leading this venture and no, Faith, they didn't mention you." The British man responded angry as he talked about the head of the Council.

"Who exactly are these people?" Lilith asked confused.

"They are the people who are supposed to help the slayer battle evil but these guys tend to like us to be subservient. They want us to slay mindlessly with no thought on if we will live or die." Faith answered with spite.

"Sounds like the Initiative and them would have gotten along great." The brunette clone scoffed.

"This is why I want them not here. They have a tendency to try and kill one of us every time they show up." The blonde slayer informed still freaking out.

"You ever tried killing them first or at least breaking a limb?" Lilith wondered causing both of her mentors to give her a disappointed look.

"As much as I like your idea, they're human and as much as I hate to say this we can't kill them or break a limb. We should at least try and keep the higher ground." Buffy responded sternly making the young brunette slayer look away scolded.

"Hey, come on." Faith patted her clone on the shoulder trying to cheer her up. "It would be a good plan if these guys weren't human."

"Thanks, Faith." Lilith mumbled.

The next day, Buffy was training in the back when she heard a disturbance coming from out front. There were three men and a woman surrounding the shop while Travers stood in the middle patronizing Giles. When they saw the blonde, the Watchers turned their attention onto her and glared.

"Ah, Miss Summers, we were wondering whether you would join us or not." Travers spoke.

"So, where's the information, Travers? I didn't think you needed a whole entourage to just come over here and give us the information." Buffy stated trying to hold back on her anger.

"Well, you see, Miss Summers, we want to make sure you deserve this information. So, you'll b…" The smug head Watcher was disturbed as the Magic Box's door was busted in.

Lilith stood in the entrance snarling at the room. If Buffy didn't think something was wrong, she did when she noticed the blood on the hands of the clone soldier.

"Which one of you is Travers?" Lilith growled looking around the room.

There was no answer but there was a subtle shift in the eyes of one of the men. Grabbing the Watcher closest to her, she slammed his head against the wall before advancing towards Travers, who started cowering back. She grabbed the man and flipped him onto the table and started choking him.

"Where is she?" The enraged brunette asked with fury.

"What's going on? Lilith, stop you're killing him." Buffy tried to get the bloody clone to let go without force.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Travers barley ground out.

"He had his men take Faith and now the coward wants to suffer for it then he will until he tells me where she is." Lilith said as she grabbed the index finger of her hostage's hand and snapped it.

"Jesus, Lilith, stop." Buffy yelled, pulling Lilith off the sniveling man on the table.

"Not until that fucker tells me where to find Faith." The brunette attempted to get out of the hold the blonde had her in but Buffy was determined not to let that happen.

"You don't want me to let her go then you should answer her question and give us our information." Buffy demanded.

"Alright, alright, I'll have her and all the information brought here." He yelped out pulling a phone from his pocket.

"You tell them anything else and you won't have to worry about her." The blonde slayer warned and promised at the same time. As Travers talked to his guy, Buffy turned to the brunette, "I need to know what happened."

"Faith and I were about to leave when these guys busted in. they shot us with, I think, tranqs and before I passed out I heard them talk with an English accent. When I woke up, there was one of the men standing watch and I questioned him." Lilith raised her bloody hands before continuing, "He told me he didn't know where she was taken but Travers would."

"This guy, is he alive?" The brunette nodded at the question. "Good. Look, can I leave you with him and trust you won't do anything to hurt him while I run and get a first aid kit from my home?"

"As long as he or his friends don't try anything, he'll be in one piece when you get back." Lilith answered keeping her glare trained on the Watchers.

Buffy ran into her house and backed up when she noticed a figure sitting in one of the chairs. '_Ugh, can this day get any worse?_' the blonde groaned in her head as she stared down Glory.

"Well, aren't you even going to offer me anything?" The blonde intruder asked feigning offence.

"What are you doing here?" Buffy asked as she looked around for anything off.

"I'm looking for my key and you have it." Glory stated like it was obvious.

"I'm not going to tell you where it is." The slayer responded with determination and grew frightened as she saw Dawn walk in the room behind Glory.

"Well, what do we have here?" She asked, turning unknowingly to the key she has been searching for. "You must be little sis. Maybe, you know where my key is."

"Dawn, just leave now." Buffy ordered fearfully but the brunette teen just sighed irritated.

"She always does this, taking my things." Dawn complained and Buffy tried to grab a fire poker.

"I could kill you before you even got off a swing." Glory threatened turning back to face the slayer. "Next time, you see me someone will get hurt."

Buffy didn't have time to go over her meeting with Glory as she didn't want to leave Lilith alone with the sources of her anger. She ran towards the Magic Box but was intercepted by three fully armored knights. Ducking the swing of one's sword, she turned and grabbed it free from his grip, driving it into the knight. She ducked under another swing and hit the knight in the head with the hilt end before blocking the swing coming from the other knight. The blonde kicked his sword hand away as she impaled him through. Pulling the last one to his knees, she pulled off his helmet and was shocked to find he was human.

"The key is the link and the link must be severed." He said as he pushed her away and ran.

Buffy walked into the Magic Box to see a very bruised up Faith. She ran over to check on her darker counterpart and started to patch her up.

"Here's your information, Miss Summers. I don't think you deserve it. You see, you have all these crazy people that can't help you in this. This isn't just some other demon you are facing. It's a god." Travers said leaving the room speechless.

AN: Please review and tell me what you think. Hopefully, I won't get too bogged down between updates.


	27. Chapter 27

AN: Thank you for your reviews. I'm sorry I haven't had time to update as I got a new job. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

A couple of days after the incident with the Council, Lilith and Faith were lying in bed not able to sleep. The older brunette was worried about her younger counterpart since something seemed to stop her from sleeping again. Sitting up in her bed, Faith turned to the other bed and broke the silence.

"Okay, what's wrong, L?" Faith asked her clone, causing the younger brunette to turn to face her mentor. "You're having trouble sleeping again and it's got to be due to something bothering you. So, please, just tell me what's going on."

"Buffy won't look me in the eye anymore. Hell, she hardly talks to me or wants to even be around me. Is it because of what I did to that council guy? They took you. I didn't know what they would do to you and I couldn't let that just happen like it wasn't wrong. So, why does Buffy hate me for it? How can I fix this?" Lilith pleaded desperately at Faith with tears in her eyes and the older brunette rushed to the other bed and pulled the crying teen into her arms.

"Shh, it'll be okay." Faith made sure Lilith was looking her in the eyes as she spoke. "You didn't do anything wrong. You wanted to protect me and that's what we do for family. We protect each other from humans and demons alike. Buffy's really never had that problem with humans threatening her family. She hasn't really seen the darker side of humanity but she doesn't hate you."

"Are you sure?" The young brunette asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, of course." Faith tried to answer confidently.

Both brunette slayers got little sleep that night. The next day, Faith walked into the Magic Box to see the blonde that had haunted her thoughts all night just staring at the punching bag not making a move to start training. Buffy couldn't get the knights she had killed out of her head and she jumped when the brunette put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong, B?" the brunette wondered.

"Huh, oh, nothing." Buffy tried to shrug it off. "Where's Lilith?"

"Therapy but there is something I want to talk to you about." Faith stated.

"Okay, what's up?" The blonde asked.

"Lilith's having trouble sleeping again. She has come to the conclusion that you hate her for her actions against the Council. Now, B, I know how you feel about what a slayer should be but she's just a kid and doesn't see what's wrong about protecting her family and treating her like you did me after I killed Finch is a sure way to mess her up. So, I don't care what you have to do, just fix this. I won't let you treat her like you did me." The brunette explained then turned to leave.

"Wait, Faith." Buffy called, "I… I didn't mean to react that way to Lilith but I'm having my own crises here. I killed four people that night. They attacked me in armor but I killed them. I'm no better than you were when you were evil."

"B, there is a difference in killing for pleasure and killing out of self-defense." Faith said simply trying to get the blonde to see her point.

"Yeah, but there's going to be more of them. They're after Dawn and I don't know if we can just knock them out to make them stay away." The blonde was wringing her hands anxiously.

"B, they're nut jobs trying to kill an innocent little girl. Are you telling me you can't face them to protect her? 'Cause that ain't the Buffy I know. Dawn needs the Buffy that was willing to kill me to save her poisoned vampire boyfriend." Buffy flinched as the brunette spoke about that night in her apartment.

"Faith, I'm sorry about stabbing you. The moment I did it I wanted to take it all back." The blonde apologized honestly.

"I know I saw the look on your face when it happened. It might be one of the reasons I jumped off the building. I can't tell you exactly why I did some of the things I've done but I can tell you that I couldn't stand the way you looked at me after I killed Finch. I just wanted to you to notice how much I needed help to see through all the bullshit and realize that I couldn't handle what was happening. The Mayor, though, he really cared about me and that was something that I'd never had before so when he asked for me to do something for him I did. You may think he was manipulating me but I really believe he cared about what happened to me." Faith explained with a pained look on her face.

"He did care about you, Faith. He tried to kill me in the hospital when he found out and it was his affection for you that helped me lead him into our trap. I won't apologize for killing him because he was killing people and I had to stop him but what I am sorry for is that it hurts you that he's dead and I'm sorry for the way I treated you." Buffy said sincerely.

"Thank you, Buffy. It means a lot and I'm sorry too for everything I've done." The brunette felt a weight lift off her chest as she apologized.

"By the way, I know you're right about the knights but part of me wants to avoid killing them if I can." The blonde brought their conversation backed to their original point.

"I know, B, I wouldn't want you to feel your alone in sharing the burden for what we both know is going to happen 'cause we both know that we need to do what we have to." Faith stated with determination. "Also, please speak to L about why you've been distant 'cause I think she'd understand and maybe stop believing that you hate her."

"Okay, Faith, and thanks for forgiving me." Buffy replied with a small half smile.

"Hey, we both deserve a second chance." The brunette gave her blonde counterpart a full dimpled grin. "I'm here for you, B. Whatever you need."

AN: Please review and please stick with me because I really am trying to update. I'm sorry for this being so delayed but I won't give up on any of my stories.


	28. Chapter 28

AN: Thank you for your reviews. BTVS doesn't belong to me.

Lilith was sitting in her therapist's office in silence. She was afraid to talk about the fear she had of Buffy's treatment of her and the dreams she had been having about what could happen if they fail. So, she sat silently watching the doctor examine her and write occasionally. Amy Pond was observing her reserved patient and noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the stiffness while sitting. She looked like she had when she first showed up in her office and it saddened the doctor that something had caused the regression in the teenager.

"Talk to me Lilith, what is causing your lack of sleep? Have you had a fight with one of the gang or are you afraid of something?" The doctor asked, "I can't help you if you won't talk to me and even if you won't talk to me then talk to Faith if you can. I know you fear what they think of you and if they will see you as weak but I truly believe Faith will not abandon you."

"If we fail, then what does any of this matter? Why should I care if I get better or not? I will always be this monster whether or not the gang sees that. I can see it through and I always will. Nobody can change that." Lilith said unemotionally and ran out of the office before the red head could reply.

Faith had just left when Giles received a very worried phone call from Dr. Pond. Buffy watched as even Giles' face crumbled into a mask of concern. After he hung up and explained what had happened, Buffy ran out the door to try and find the young slayer. Buffy felt that Lilith's mood was because of her so it was up to the blonde to put it right without the help of her sister slayer. After looking in all the obvious places for the wayward slayer, she decided that, much like when Riley had his crisis of faith, Lilith might head back to what was familiar. She searched the caves one by one until she felt the teen's presence.

In the back corner of the cave, there sat Lilith curled in a ball trying to shut out the world as quiet cries echoed through the cave. Buffy felt her guilt increase while watching the young teen break down in front of her. As the blonde walked towards the broken slayer, she saw a knife sitting by Lilith and feared what that could mean. Buffy went unnoticed until she sat next to the crying girl. Lilith starred in fear of the blonde after not seceding in locking down her emotions. Buffy not being able to stand seeing the teen like this pulled her into her arms as the clone broke down again in the comfort of her mentor's arms.

"Why?" Lilith asked through her tears.

"'Cause you've done nothing wrong and I'm sorry if you thought for one moment that I hated you. I pulled away but not because of you I swear. I killed four people that same night and couldn't handle what that meant. You are the best thing that could have happened these past two years." The blonde apologized feeling a couple tears build up in her eyes.

"You're wrong. I've done a lot of things wrong. I've murdered countless people, so why should I be allowed to live and not them?" The brunette glanced at the knife next to her.

"Don't you even dare!" Buffy yelled as she grabbed the knife and tossed it away from them, "You were a child, that didn't know anything about the world except for what the psychos in this place told you. You have done bad things but so has Faith and I'm not so innocent either. You should live to prove you are that you can be more than the Initiative's little puppet and be the Slayer that they didn't mean to create. You know now that it was wrong and I know you would never intentionally hurt another innocent person again. You can't let this keep you from going on with your life and if you think for one moment that Faith won't lose whatever happiness she has found then you fucking stupid. It would devastate us all, so if you can't live for yourself than live for us until you can."

"Okay." Lilith nodded shakily. "But you're for a second time; Faith would still have some happiness as long as she has you."

"What are you talking about?" The blonde asked confused.

"Faith talks in her sleep and it's kinda obvious she likes you." The brunette replied.

"Um, okay, why don't we get out of here?" Buffy stood up and started walking out of the cave with her arm still around the young teen.

Few weeks later, Lilith still seemed shaky but was getting better. When the blonde had informed her sister slayer about Lilith's break down, Faith had pulled the blonde into her arms and thanked her. Buffy had rethought about telling Dawn she wasn't human but, after watching Lilith break, she was worried her sister wouldn't take it well. Faith eventually convinced the blonde to tell the innocent girl so she doesn't ever put herself in danger inadvertently.

"Hey, Dawn, I need to talk to you." Buffy said as she saw her sister come home from school.

"Sure, Buffy, Is this about that woman that was here the other day?" Dawn asked as she sat across from the blonde.

"Sort of, she was here looking for a key that she needs to destroy this dimension and she believes I have it." The slayer waited for her sister to nod in understanding before continuing, "A while ago, there was this monk and he told me that they made the key human. They sent her to me to protect and changed people's memories to make it seem like she had always been there." Buffy could see the realization in her sister's eyes. "You are the key Dawnie, but I will always love you and nothing will ever happen to you."

"I… I can't hear this." Dawn said as she took off upstairs.

AN: Please review and thank you for reading.


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